UberCon '05
by SaraidGlas
Summary: AU - no vampires, no magic. Contemporary Xena fandom. Everyone is attending a three-day convention about fan fiction for their favorite TV show. Two women who met online via a fanfic message board have plans to meet - but will a spoilsport ruin everything?
1. Awakening

The sun rose over the mountain and bathed the two sleeping figures in the first warm rays of a new day.

The blonde lay on her back with her hair fanned out around her head in a golden nimbus. Her arms were splayed out on either side of her body and her chest rose and fell evenly and deeply.

In contrast, her companion was curled into a tight ball and slept restlessly. Her brow furrowed and her body jerked from one side to the other as if she was dodging some unseen terror. A light sheen of sweat bathed her forehead and neck, though the morning was cool.

The blonde awoke as if sensing her companion's distress and sat up. She observed the other's restless slumber but did not go to her immediately. Instead, she stood up and faced the rising sun. She extended her arms as high as they could go and tilted her head back so her body and face were bathed in the sunlight. She stretched and held this pose for several seconds.

Behind the blonde, her companion awoke with a start and cast her eyes around the campsite. Seeing her friend already awake, she relaxed and rested her head on one bent arm, watching the morning ritual that she was used to by now.

The blonde broke her pose and bowed her head briefly, murmuring some words. She turned and sat down next to her companion.

"Greeting the sun," the recently awakened woman said.

The blonde nodded. "The early morning is the best time for me to re-establish the connection to the earth," she replied.

"Because the magic is strongest then?"

She shook her head. "No, it's mostly that my mind is clear in the morning so I'm more able to be open to the earth's energy." She changed the subject. "You had the nightmares again."

"Yes."

"Tell me about them?"

The woman's lips pursed, but she complied. "It's a little jumbled," she began. "Just images without any connecting sequence of events. But terrible images. A man running away from me, terrified, and I thought at him _flay_, and his skin suddenly peeled back from his body. I could see his muscles, tendons, everthing. Then I thought _break_, and I broke every bone in his body. Then I thought _burst_, and I exploded all of his blood vessels. But he didn't die instantly. He screamed for what seemed like forever. I can still hear his screams." She paused, pensive.

The blonde took her friend's hand and squeezed. "This is something that really happened, right?"

Her companion nodded. "The worst part was, it wasn't enough. I wanted him to feel every single ounce of pain that I inflicted on him. And it wasn't enough. I didn't just want to kill him - I wanted to obliterate him. To erase his existence from the universe. If I had thought of it, I probably would have tried to send him to a hell dimension where he would endure eternal torture. But probably not, actually - I just wanted him dead." She stopped as tears sprang to her eyes. Such a long speech was not usual for her.

Sea green eyes met azure, and the blonde stroked her companion's hand encouragingly. "Are you ready to turn this over to the earth and seek her healing power?"

The other woman bit her lip, and whispered, "I'm not sure if the earth wants to hear this."

The blonde didn't reply, but just kept her gaze steady. _I believe in you_, she tried to convey through her look and touch. Some part of this must have gotten through, because finally they rose and walked to the spot the blonde had so recently vacated. She cast some grayish powder into a circle around them, and sat down across from her troubled friend. They joined hands and began to breathe.

The blonde's breathing was measured and regular, and eventually her companion's erratic breathing slowed down until the two women were breathing in unison.

"Gaia, hear this woman. She comes to you to unburden herself and to seek the healing light of your forgiveness. Hear her story and help her to become one with the peace you offer."

The other woman slowly repeated the story she had told her blonde friend. She spoke in a low voice with a hint of a tremble beneath the words, but the constant pressure of her companion's hands helped her voice gain strength as she reached the end of her tale.

The blonde again murmured a prayer of thanks and the two women dropped their hands. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other. The darker one broke eye contact first.

"Do you feel better?"

"A bit. I was skeptical at first, but every time we do a ritual like this, I feel like a bit of the darkness in my soul has lifted." She raised her head and smiled sadly at the blonde. "I'm not sure if I deserve it, though."

The blonde looked earnestly at her friend. "Gaia's power to forgive and heal is large," she said. "Much larger than even the most horrible acts of violence and betrayal that we can inflict on each other. She can help you see that magic can be used for good, and healing, and helping people."

"Well, you're helping me also. Why are you helping me like this?" asked her companion. "You've spent every second with me these past weeks and I know it's not easy."

This time it was Gabrielle who broke eye contact. "I - I like you, Xena," she replied softly. "I think you were led down the wrong path by some bad people and bad circumstances, and that you can come back. And…I feel a connection with you."

Xena's blue eyes, which always carried some reflection of inner anguish or pain, darkened slightly and looked almost peaceful as she said "I feel that same connection."

The women gazed at each other and smiled, basking in the morning light and in each other's presence and companionship.

* * *

**amazon_hacker:** I really liked the last update to your story. Do you really believe in magic?

**wiccanbard:** sort of. i believe that things happen for a reason and that we are all connected, and that the things we do come back to us

**amazon_hacker:** you mean like karma?

**wiccanbard:** kind of like karma. like the little things that we do can have a bigger effect than we think they will. like if i'm grumpy one day and cut someone off in traffic, that will make him mad, and maybe he works at the deli, and he's the person who will make my sandwich at lunch today and he'll still be mad and distracted thinking about the person who cut him off, and he won't notice that he put horseradish on my sandwich instead of mayonnaise and then i'll hate my sandwich and get even more grumpy, and i'll cut more people off on the way home, it will make them mad, and they will pass along the bad feelings to all their friends and family, and really it's because i put grumpy energy out into the universe in the first place and it came back to haunt me in ways i couldn't have predicted

**amazon_hacker:** oh, so sort of like chaos theory and karma together. (ps - you sound like me with the babbling.)

**wiccanbard:** babbling, haha, you must be rubbing off on me. chaos theory = the thing where a butterfly flaps its wings and causes a hurricane?

**amazon_hacker:** that's the archetypal example, but basically yep.

**wiccanbard:** i guess it's sort of the same. chaos theory crossed with a karma boomerang that always comes back to you even if you make a bad throw.

**amazon_hacker:** g'day mate. Shall we throw some shrimps on the barbie?

**wiccanbard:** huh?

**amazon_hacker:** you said boomerang, you know, Australia?

**wiccanbard:** oh, haha. yet another non sequitur from amazon_hacker

**amazon_hacker:** yeah, sorry about that. Although I might argue that it was a sequitur, with the Aussie/boomerang connection. Hey, I'm sooooo excited about UberCon.

**wiccanbard:** me too

**amazon_hacker:** are you going to read this story at cordy's fanfic reading gatherings?

**wiccanbard:** well, not this one since it's already half-done. i'd rather read something new - i have a new idea

**amazon_hacker:** what's it about?

**wiccanbard:** can't talk about it yet. :)

**amazon_hacker:** just one hint? Pleeeeeeze?

**wiccanbard:** well, it's a story about two people who meet online

**amazon_hacker:** perhaps on a certain message board? *grin*

**wiccanbard:** *blush*

**amazon_hacker:** :)

**wiccanbard:** anyway, it's not finished yet so i'm not sure if i'll read it. and I don't think i'll reveal my handle to anyone at the con anyway. i feel a little uncomfortable with people knowing who i am online and in RL. even my roommate doesn't tell people on the board that she and i know each other. so don't tell anyone that i'm wiccanbard after we meet, okay?

**amazon_hacker:** I promise. So we are good to go for Saturday at noon in the exhibit center, right?

**wiccanbard:** yep. and you'll wear that pin so i can recognize you?

**amazon_hacker:** definitely.

**wiccanbard:** okay *nervous*

**amazon_hacker:** I'm nervous too but I'm looking forward to it.

**wiccanbard:** me too

**amazon_hacker:** And about your new story? I hope it has a happy ending.

**wiccanbard:** *blush* *smile* me too. what about you? any new fics you plan to read?

**amazon_hacker:** I'm working on a new one.

**wiccanbard:** more high tech stuff?

**amazon_hacker:** no, this one is different. Kind of Dracula meets Charmed.

**wiccanbard:** charmed, haha

**amazon_hacker:** I know it's kind of a goofy show but I have an idea for a witch character and some other stuff

**wiccanbard:** oh a witch huh? :)

**amazon_hacker:** I might be taking a page out of my favorite fanfic author's book.

**wiccanbard:** well i'm flattered

**amazon_hacker:** :) and I thought I'd try a story where Xena is physically strong like on the show instead of having her be a computer hacker as usual.

**wiccanbard:** just don't have gabrielle wearing the bilious green sports bra

**amazon_hacker:** cordy's really serious about not having her in that outfit on the board, isn't she?

**wiccanbard:** yep. the board is called the Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe, after all

**amazon_hacker:** Do you know why?

**wiccanbard:** it's in the FAQ but that file has been corrupted for a while. basically she thinks that xena and gabrielle are fashion victims and so she started this board where the only rule is that fanfic stories cannot feature gabby in season three outfits, unless she's being rescued from them

**amazon_hacker:** so she's both a fashion diva and a computer whiz, to set up a whole message board?

**wiccanbard:** :) no, she has a friend, aresisagod, who does all the technical stuff for her. i don't think cordy even knows how to start a new thread

**amazon_hacker:** interesting. It's a nice board, nice people. There's a really supportive fanfic vibe going on, people even seem to like all my high-tech computer stories. I'm glad I found it.

**wiccanbard:** i'm glad too. :)

**amazon_hacker:** :) Oh, frogs! I'm meeting my friends for lunch and I'm late.

**wiccanbard:** ok. chat tomorrow?

**amazon_hacker:** count on it. bye!

**wiccanbard:** bye!


	2. Preparing

Willow entered the Espresso Pump and waved to Buffy and Xander, who were already seated at a booth by the window. She motioned that she was going to order lunch at the counter before joining them.

"Hey Will," Buffy greeted her as she slid into the booth next to Xander. "Are you late for any particular reason? Like, perhaps chatting online with a certain fan fiction author?"

Willow blushed as she unwrapped her sandwich. "Maybe," she replied, and tried to avoid providing more details by taking a big bite.

"So are you two going to actually meet up, in person, at the convention?" asked Xander. "This is like the culmination of about three solid months of chatting, isn't it?"

Willow nodded in response, her mouth still full.

"Are you nervous?" Buffy asked. "I mean, you don't really know anything about her, right? Like not even her name or where she lives? She could be some old guy named Malcolm for all you know."

Willow made a face. "Don't remind me of that." She shook her head wryly. "Anyway, this is different. I feel this amazing connection with her and we talk about all kinds of stuff and she's so interesting and surprises me all the time with the things she knows about, and did I tell you she's into Wicca..." she stopped as she noticed Buffy's 'not again' expression. "Okay, I know I've told you both about her a million times before."

"And you are going to meet her face to face, anyway. So if she's not who she seems to be, at least you'll know," Xander pointed out

Buffy laughed. "I'm excited for you, Will, really I am. Hey, did Giles give you any grief about taking Friday off?"

Willow shook her head. "Nope. I'm pretty far along in implementing the new card cataloguing database system, so he's happy. The project is about three weeks ahead of schedule as it is. You?"

"All systems are go for a Buffy absence from the dojo on Friday. William agreed to teach my class for me and I'll fill in for him some other time. The joy of summer vacations!"

"And the good citizens of Sunnydale will have to manage to survive this weekend without me delivering hot 'n spicy goodness to their door," Xander chimed in.

Buffy gave him an arch look. "When did you become a singing telegram stripper?"

"Not yet, unfortunately. It's still just hot 'n spicy pizzas."

Buffy snorted, and continued "So anyway, do you guys want to have a slumber party Thursday night at my house? Mom said it was okay."

"Sounds good," Xander said. "Anything to get out of the house when Drunk and Drunker decide that 2am is the perfect time too have a live re-enactment of the roller derby."

Willow smiled sympathetically at him. "Absent and Absenter aren't much better," she commiserated. "Let's talk about something happy - like what kinds of chocolate we're going to bring!"

The rest of the conversation turned to what snacks and CDs they should pack for the road trip.

In the back of Willow's mind, she thought _There's no way she's a guy pretending to be a girl, or some spaz. I feel like I've known her forever._

* * *

**New Thread: UberCon 2005**

**cordy_princess (Moderator): ** okay guys, this is the thread where you can talk about the upcoming convention. What's on-topic here is pretty much anything convention-related: the workshops, panel discussions, uber fics that you're working on for the con, get-togethers, the dance, ride-sharing, and of course, what you're going to wear. No bumping the thread just to bump it. We have over 400 people registered for UberCon, which is totally way cool, and about 75 are from this board.

And remember, every evening in the Sunset Lounge we're going to have The Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe fanfic readings, hosted by me. The only requirement is that your fic has to be uber and try to keep it under 5,000 words. That means either short stories or just reading a few chapters. All readings will be in the lounge. Friday it's at 9pm right after the opening plenary, Saturday we'll have an abbreviated session at 7pm because of the dance that night, and Sunday will be at 7pm after the closing plenary.

**aresisagod:** yay, the con is almost here! And clearly cordy forgot to say thanks to the board's tech guy for adding a new thread, so I'll say thanks for her. Thank you, me!

**5by5: ** can't wait for the con. Can anyone give a gal a ride from the bay area? I'll help pay for gas AND promise not to seduce your girlfriend.

**callibabe: ** I just want to give props to my gal cordy for co-chairing this con!

**aphrodite: ** second the props. i've been writing a new fic for the fanfic readings. I won't give away too much but you can rest assured there will be plenty of orgasms.

**joxx: ** Yay, a new fic from the board's favorite smut puppy! I've been working on a new one too.

**5by5: ** please tell me this isn't one where joxer hooks up with every woman in sight like all your other fics

**aphrodite: ** hey, lay off. I don't see you doing anything on this board except criticizing other people and attesting to your own sexual prowess - something we never see anyone on this board corroborating, by the way

**joxx: ** yeah, what she said.

**5by5: ** if anyone wrote decent callisto fic i'd be all over it. besides, someone has to be a critic

**aphrodite: ** usually to be a critic you have to have some qualifications other than being a loudmouth

**cordy_princess (Moderator): ** okay people, either cut it out or take it to chat. You're off topic.

**aresisagod: ** anyway, to bring this back on topic, I'm working on a new fiction for the Friday night fanfic reading. It's Ares/Autolycus slash set in the Castro circa 1940 and they're the founders of the Mattachine Society and the bear movement

**wiccanbard: ** i'm excited for the con also. i'm working on a new fic and i hope it will be finished in time

**xenarulz: ** we are leaving on Friday morning and will probably get there right before the first panel discussion if traffic isn't too bad, hopefully it will only take two hours. Too bad Lucy Lawless couldn't make it to this con - I wanted to talk to her about her martial arts training

**amazon_hacker: ** uhhh I think I read somewhere that she doesn't do any martial arts training. To keep this on topic - I can't wait for the autograph signing on Saturday! It's so cool that Alex Tydings agreed to come, cordy_princess.

**cordy_princess: ** yeah, my dad's business partner knows her agent, so he was able to pull some strings. She definitely has the best hair on the show and I love those shoes. And the pink dresses she wears are just divine.

**joxx: ** definitely agree with you there

**5by5: ** yum cleavage

**aphrodite: ** speaking of cleavage, don't forget about my workshop on Saturday! It's during Workshop Session 2, Saturday at 2pm

**amazon_hacker: ** anyone bringing a laptop to the con?

**aresisagod: ** unfortunately the hotel won't be wireless-enabled for another 3 months and the cable modem rental is $9.99 a day so take that into consideration. I'll be bringing mine though in case there is a board emergency.

**wiccanbard: ** i share a desktop computer, so no laptop for me

**xenarulz: ** I'm all woo-hoo with the can't wait!

**aresisagod: ** me too girlfriend!

* * *

Tara opened drawers and removed a few shirts and some underwear. An open suitcase lay on the bed half-filled with various articles of clothing and toiletries. She refolded the shirts and stacked them carefully in the suitcase. Next she selected a small candle with a lid from the assortment on top of her bookshelf. She checked the clamp on the candle's lid to make sure it would stay closed and nestled it among the clothing.

Anya entered the room without knocking, carrying a plastic bag. "Tara, you're going to have to pack sexier underwear than that if you want to seduce your little online paramour." She reached into Tara's suitcase and began inventorying the undergarments.

The friendship between the two roommates was an unlikely one to most who knew them both. Tara's extreme shyness and Anya's outspoken sexuality didn't seem to be a recipe for getting along, much less a close relationship. Randomly assigned to room together their freshman year of college, a friendship sprung up between them as they discovered their mutual love of Xena: Warrior Princess. Over time, a deeper friendship developed.

Anya never made fun of Tara's occasional stutter, as some others had in the past, and Tara never judged Anya's freewheeling approach to her love life. Anya in turn never criticized Tara's introverted ways, other than to make sure Tara came out in public occasionally to socialize. And though sometimes the things that Anya could say in public were slightly embarrassing, Tara also appreciated them - she felt like she had an entrée into a world she wouldn't have otherwise. Likewise, Anya seemed to deeply appreciate the emotional depth that Tara brought to the friendship.

Tara blushed but also smiled. "I'm not planning on seducing her, Anya," she protested. "We're just going to meet and talk."

Anya waved away Tara's comments and continued to rummage through the suitcase. "White cotton panties, blue cotton panties, pink cotton panties, and boxer shorts! This is all wrong, wrong, wrong. Don't you have any silky string bikinis? Maybe a nice thong and a see-through teddy?"

"For gosh sakes! I don't own any thongs at all."

"Crotchless panties with stockings?" Anya crossed the room to pillage Tara's underwear drawer. She tossed out pair after endless pair of cotton panties. "This will never do."

She produced a outfit from the plastic bag. "As your roommate I consider it my sacred duty to make sure that you are prepared for whatever orgasm-inducing situations you might find yourself in at this convention. That's why I bought you this."

'This' was a short blue satin skirt with matching lace bra and panties.

Tara blushed. "Anya, you are too much. No one at this convention is even going to see my underwear. And I've never worn anything like that in my life."

"You just haven't had a reason yet to wear it," Anya breezily replied. "But now you've got a nifty little online sex kitten at your beck and call who is very enamored of your work and who you spend at least an hour a day chatting and doing god knows what else with online on my computer."

Tara shook her head. "She's not a sex kitten. We don't do anything except talk."

Anya replied "Of course you don't, because the computer is in the living room. Oh stop that blushing," she ordered Tara, whose face was bright red. "You know I'm just teasing you."

Tara threw her hands up in surrender and began gathering up the cotton panties that were strewn all over the room. "If I agree to bring that blue thing, will you stay out of my underwear drawer?"

Anya laughed. "Of course. And believe it or not, I didn't come in here just to harass you about your lingerie, or lack thereofb. My accounting class is cancelled for Friday so we can leave in the morning for the drive up to the convention."

"A pretty rigorous summer schedule you have there - this is the third time it's been cancelled, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I'm doing enough independent work that I don't feel it will adversely affect my ability to amass great wealth. And speaking of independent work, I need to go polish up the handouts for my workshop. So anyway - we'll leave at 10:00 a.m. sharp?"

"Yep!" replied Tara. "I'll be ready."

Anya arched her eyebrows. "Clearly, since you're almost done packing and it's only Tuesday. Now don't accidentally forget to pack that sexy underwear or there will be consequences."

"Consider it packed," said Tara in mock surrender.

* * *

**New Poll: UberCon '05 Dance RESULTS**

**Q:** UberCon will have a dance Saturday night. Do you think it should be costume-optional, or no costumes?

**I'm wearing a costume right now!:** 83% (62 votes)  
**I'd sooner get bitten by a Bacchae than wear a costume:** 13% (10 votes)  
**Don't care:** 4% (3 votes)

**cordy_princess (Moderator):** the results of the poll are in, so on behalf of the UberCon '05 host committee, we invite you to bring your costumes for the Saturday night dance!


	3. Arriving

Buffy pulled the SUV to an abrupt halt in front of the hotel. As the tires squealed, she said "Whoops, sorry about that, guys."

Willow gradually unclenched her death grip on the armrests. "No problem, Buff. I think...you've actually improved! And it's nice to know that the seat belts work. Look, mine's locked up, just like it's supposed to. Good thing the air bags didn't deploy." She jiggled her seat belt, unfastened it, and opened the passenger door. "Why don't I just carry in our bags right now and you can park the car?"

Xander immediately said "Let me give you a hand," and hopped out from the back seat. They quickly unloaded their bags from the back of the SUV and closed the door.

"See you inside!" called Buffy as she screeched off to find a parking place.

Willow and Xander looked at each other. "If Joyce checks the tread on those tires when we get home Buffy is toast," commented Xander. They gathered up their things and carried them into the hotel lobby.

The lobby had a high ceiling and several overstuffed couches set among large potted plants. Off to the side was the registration desk. Two easels were set up nearby: "Welcome UberCon 2005 Attendees" and "Welcome Southern California Dental Hygienists Association."

"Well, at least if we have any oral hygiene emergencies we'll be in good hands." Willow checked her watch. "Xander, it's 12:30 so the convention check-in is probably open. Why don't I go pick up our packets, and you can check us in for the room?"

"Okey dokey," he replied, and moved toward the registration desk.

Buffy entered the hotel lobby and joined Xander. "Did we lose Willow already?" she asked.

"Naw, she just couldn't wait to get the convention stuff," he replied as he handed over his credit card and signed the slip of paper the clerk gave him.

"Thanks for covering this, Xander," Buffy said. "I'll pay you back next payday."

"No problem," he replied. "One of the benefits of being a working professional instead of a student is the steady paycheck."

Willow came back into the lobby, carrying three folders with her. "It's so cool in there, you guys! The exhibits are all set up, and there's all kinds of merchandise and books, and it looks like a ton of people are here already! And look - here's the lineup of workshops and discussions. There's so much going on that I think we should split up for most of the workshops and stuff so we can make sure to get as much out of this convention as possible."

Willow handed Buffy and Xander their folders and they moved over to the couches in the lobby. "Xander, I've outlined a series of workshops and discussions that I thought you'd be interested in since you're working on your writing style. Buff, I wrote out some suggestions for you based on what you're most interested in reading, and I'm going to go to half writer's stuff, half issue type stuff. Also, this way we'll all be going to different things and can fill each other in on any cool resources that get handed out."

Buffy looked further down the schedule. "I see that you're going to attend "Rated R: Give 'Em What They Want or Keep Them Wanting More."

Willow grinned. "Yeah, I know I don't write that much rated R stuff, but I figured this would be a good place to explore that a little."

"Yeah, your main objective in coming to this convention is to improve your skills at Rated R-type stuff, isn't it?" Buffy said.

Willow stuck her tongue out at Buffy, but also grinned.

"Speaking of exploring, let's drop our stuff off at our room and have a look around before the first workshop session starts," Xander said, hefting his bag.

The girls nodded and rose. Willow continued to talk excitedly about the schedule as they approached the elevator and went up to their room.

* * *

Anya slid the plastic card into the lock on the hotel room door. When the green light appeared, she turned the handle and the door swung inward. She flipped on the light and proceeded into the room, with Tara following.

Anya swung her bag onto the bed nearest the bathroom, while Tara laid hers on the one nearest the window. She looked around the room.

Anya wrinkled her nose. "Smells kinda musty," she commented.

"Oh, I can take care of that," Tara replied, unzipping her bag. She shifted some clothes and removed the small candle she had carefully packed. Unfastening the clamp, she pulled out a book of matches from one of the pockets of her suitcase and struck a match to the wick of the candle. A vanilla smell began to diffuse into the room, and Tara set the candle on the desk.

"Are you going to perform a Wiccan ritual to cast out the bad smell spirits?" Anya asked as she removed her clothes from her suitcase and began hanging them in the closet.

"No, it's just a regular scented candle," Tara replied. "I figured that most hotel rooms have that, you know, hotel room smell, so I usually bring one along." She moved toward her own suitcase and carefully removed a blue long-sleeved shirt with a scoop neck, and a long brown skirt. She smoothed them on the bed and looked critically at them. "I guess the one thing about linen is that it's supposed to wrinkle," she commented.

"You know what I don't understand," Anya said. "This is an uber convention, so why are we supposed to wear canon costumes to the dance?"

"I think it's because uber clothes would probably look just like regular clothes, and people want a chance to dress up," Tara replied.

"My characters don't always dress in regular clothes," said Anya. "I could have had quite a distinctive outfit modeled after Xena the dominatrix in the first section of "Wacking the Waitress."

Tara giggled. "Yes, but I don't think everyone's fic is as widely read as yours. And besides, what if someone wrote fan fiction where Xena is a dentist and Gabrielle is her dental hygienist, and decided to dress accordingly? Then we'd have a lot of confusion between us and that other convention."

"True," said Anya. "Although that could make for some interesting scenarios, I'm sure."

Tara checked her watch. "It's almost time for the first workshop session - want to head down?"

Anya nodded and handed the other girl the other key card for the room as they walked to the elevator.

* * *

"C'mon, Buffy, let's go get some coffee!" Willow pleaded, bouncing up and down on their shared bed.

"Right, because what you really need right now is a dose of caffeine," Buffy said.

"Xander? Join us?"

"Naw, I'm going to stay here for a bit and finish up watching this episode," Xander said from his comfortable nest on one of the room's two double beds.

Willow looked at the TV screen. "Ooh, 'Fins, Femmes and Gems!' One of my favorites. But not even the siren song of Xena and Gabrielle in full flirt mode is going to keep me from a mocha right now."

"Plus you own all the DVDs," Buffy reminded her. "Okay, let's go get a caffeine fix before the first workshops begin."

Promising to meet up after the first workshop, Willow and Buffy bid Xander goodbye and took the elevator downstairs to the hotel's coffee shop, which was small but had a good amount of seating and semi-private nooks. They settled into a table with their coffees and biscotti.

"So what is it that you want to get out of this weekend, Buff?" Willow asked.

Buffy selected a biscotti and considered the question. "You know, I haven't given it too much thought. I mean, I read a lot of fanfic, but never got bitten by the writing bug myself. I'm looking forward to meeting some of my favorite writers, I guess. Mostly I'm just going to take it all as it comes and relax. I figure no expectations, no disappointment."

"A commendable attitude," Willow said. "I wish I was as relaxed with the no expectations. I mean, on the one hand I really don't have any. But on the other hand, I'm so nervous about tomorrow. What if she's not everything I think she is? What if she is everything I think she is, but she doesn't like me or thinks I'm repulsive or something? What if I'm not the kind of person she thinks I am? So many variables and potential for disappointment. Ugh, it's giving me a stomachache just thinking about it."

"So listen, how come you've never looked her up, you know, with the computer hacking?" Buffy asked. "Save yourself the worry."

Willow considered this question as she took a long sip of her mocha. "That's something that I asked myself at first, after we started chatting. I mean, I know I could totally have found out her e-mail address, her real name, and even where she lived and how much her phone bill was that month without too much trouble. It just seemed wrong to do that, you know?"

Buffy nodded. "Total invasion of privacy."

Willow said "Big time. But it would have been more than that - it would have been a betrayal. She's had some people in the past who like her fics a little too much, so she's pretty wary of most people online, and I think she's been, you know, extending herself by chatting with me so much. It's definitely outside her comfort zone. I know I go on and on about how special I think she is, but it's true. I think she's a really special person and very sweet and I want to get to know her with a total clean slate." Willow shrugged. "Not that it hasn't been hard to not do the hacking thing. But I resist."

Buffy crunched her biscotti. "So how are you going to recognize each other tomorrow?"

Neither Buffy nor Willow noticed the dark-haired girl sitting at the table just around the corner cock her head at this question.

Willow's eyes sparkled. "I have this pin, see?" She reached down into her bag and removed a plastic purple lapel pin shaped like a kitten with a dangly tail and showed it to Buffy. "We were chatting online one day about meeting up at the con, and wanted to have some kind of a symbol we could recognize each other by without really describing how we look or what we'd be wearing. I guess it's the whole suspense thing. So I looked in my desk drawer, and found this, and suggested that I wear it. So come noon tomorrow, I'll be in the exhibit hall wearing this pin, probably shaking in my boots. But I'll be there."

Buffy smiled. "That's really sweet, Will. I hope it all goes smoothly."

"Me too!" said Willow, replacing the pin in the side pocket of her bag. "And it means a lot that you came with me this weekend. Just having you and Xander here helps me to feel a lot calmer."

"Which you'll need if you keep sucking down the mochas like this," Buffy said, indicating Willow's empty glass.

The dark-haired girl stood up to leave. She walked by their table and just as she passed them, tripped and dropped her tray. "Oh, crap!" she said loudly as her empty coffee mug tumbled to the ground and rolled to a stop near Willow's bag.

Willow turned around but the dark-haired girl had already scooped up her dropped mug and was moving toward the exit. "Are you all right?" she asked, but the girl was already out of earshot.

"Okay, that was odd," said Willow, watching the brunette's retreating back.

"You get some really weird types at these conventions," Buffy commented, reaching for another biscotti.


	4. Anticipating

"Blonde over there across the room."

"No chance."

"Brunette by the table of books."

"Unlikely."

"The one next to her with the short hair and glasses."

"Doubtful."

"Maroon t-shirt?"

"That's a boy."

Anya paused from their game of 'Let's guess who amazon_hacker might be' and leaned back on the bench they were sitting on. "Is this a case of you being picky?"

Tara laughed. "I think it's a case of you not having any gaydar."

"Maybe so," said Anya, "But I can definitely spot the straight men. Yowza!" She pointed across the room to a tall dark-haired man with sideburns, who was crossing the atrium with two girls - a brunette and a redhead.

Tara looked. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the redhead. _Oh, wow,_ she thought to herself. _So cute._ Her gaze traveled over the girl's slim body, clad in jeans and a simple green pullover. The redhead wore a bright smile as she talked animatedly to her friends. Tara watched her as she walked the entire way across the atrium and down the hallway to where the roundtable discussion groups were being held.

"Helloooo, Tara! Yoo hoo!" Anya waved a hand across Tara's field of vision.

Tara shook her head with a start. "Sorry about that, Anya. Um..."

"Don't tell me you're suddenly straight and now you're crushing on my boy?"

Instead of answering with her own smart remark, Tara seemed flustered. "Um, n-no. Of course not..."

Anya left off the teasing and gave Tara a considering glance. "No, my dear, I don't think you were. In fact, I think you've been smitten with someone entirely other. Let me just take one wild guess. Is it the redhead?"

Tara flushed slightly, but had regained her composure. "You caught me."

"Well, you certainly do have good taste. If I were a lesbian, I'd find her attractive as well. Maybe she's your amazon_hacker, what do you think?"

Tara bit her lip. "I'm not sure if the universe could stand it if I were that lucky. But here's hoping."

Anya stood up. "Well, come on. After that dreadful workshop this morning, I really need a good discussion. What are we attending next?"

Tara consulted the convention schedule in her hand. "Make it Hurt - Hurt/Comfort and Angst as Plot Devices."

The two friends began walking toward the discussion group rooms.

"Because what the world definitely needs is more angst in it," Anya said.

* * *

"Xander!" Willow waved at him from across the crowded hallway.

"Hey, Will," he said. "So how was the Rated R discussion?"

"Pretty steamy," she said. "And interesting. I'll tell you more about it over dinner - but suffice it to say for now that I have some ideas for my new fic."

Xander flashed a toothy grin. "I can't wait. Can I be your beta? And your alpha? And omega?"

"Don't be a nerd. That's my department." Willow punched him in the arm. "C'mon, let's go find Buffy and get some dinner. According to the schedule, she should just be finishing up in the Hurt/Comfort/Angst discussion." They walked down the hallway to Sunrise Room B, where people were just starting to exit the room.

As they approached, two blonde girls left the room. Willow observed first the one with the shorter curly hair. Just as she shifted her gaze to the taller girl with longer hair, the girl looked up and their eyes met. Willow felt a thrill race through her body at the unexpected eye contact. _Wow, her eyes are so blue,_ she thought.

The curly-haired girl noticed Willow and Xander, and then strode over to them. A momentary look of panic crossed her companion's face, but she followed.

"Hello," Anya addressed herself to Xander. "My name is Anya. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uhhhh, likewise. Hi. I'm Xander," he replied, befuddled but friendly.

"I just wanted to tell you that I saw you earlier today in the lobby and I find you very attractive. I'll be reading one of my stories tonight at the fanfic gathering for the message board 'The Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe.' It's rated NC-17. I hope to see you there." With that, she flashed him a smile, turned around, and strode away.

Tara stood there and looked at Willow and Xander. _Should I say something? They're probably totally freaked out right now. Little do they know, it's just Anya being Anya. What should I do? Oh god. The longer I stand here, the weirder it is._ Finally, she half-smiled at the two and turned around to follow her friend.

Buffy came out of the room. "Hey guys." She looked at both of them. "Something wrong?"

Xander shook his head. "Not wrong, no. We just met some interesting, although strange and maybe overly friendly people."

"Person," Willow corrected. "The other one didn't say anything at all, so I don't think we can really say we met her."

Buffy nodded knowingly. "It's like I was telling Willow this afternoon," she said. "You meet some odd people at these things. C'mon, let's go get some food. I'm starving, and I know both of you don't want to miss the opening plenary tonight."

"Mmmm, cleavage," Xander said dreamily as they walked toward the parking lot.

_Mmmmmm, blonde..._ Willow's thoughts echoed Xander's although for a very different reason. _Strange friends or not, I'd like to get to know her...Wait! No I wouldn't. I'm meeting wiccanbard tomorrow. Although - what if this girl IS wiccanbard? That would be almost too good to be true. That smile!_

* * *

Tara and Anya picked up their folders and joined the press of people exiting the Grand Ballroom.

"Her speech was soooo good, didn't you think?"

"Absolutely. And she's got a point - a show like Xena, which gets pigeonholed as a 'cult' TV hit, needs to maintain a loyal fan base to keep it going."

Tara nodded. "And she's one of the few actors I've heard speak who really gets it about fan fiction - that it doesn't take anything away from the show, and actually helps keep the fans interested. Especially in the summer when the reruns are on."

"Frankly, I think that at least some of the show's writers lurked on the message board when they were stumped for ideas. I mean, there's plenty of episodes I've seen that have similar plotlines as some fics I've read. Or written, for that matter."

"Right, except for the sex scenes." Tara consulted her schedule. "Where is this fanfic gathering? It's not written on the schedule."

"It's in the Sunset Lounge," Anya answered. "I think that these readings are more informal, so they didn't put them in the official schedule. It's just through the lobby and across from the bar."

The two girls made their way through the throngs of people and entered the Sunset Lounge, a cozy space that appeared able to hold about 150 people and was filled with couches, overstuffed chairs, and a TV which had been pushed to one side. As the room began to fill up, Anya and Tara secured themselves a spot on one of the loveseats.

"Okay, people, let's pay attention here," Cordelia said after most of the people had trickled in. She clapped her hands to attract everyone's attention.

The conversations in the room quickly quieted down as everyone focused on Cordelia. The seats were overflowing, with people wedged in four to a couch and every seat occupied. More than 3/4 of the floor space was occupied by those who arrived too late for a couch, including Willow, Buffy, and Xander.

Cordelia stood at the front of the room with a welcoming smile, holding a sheet of paper.

"Welcome, everybody, to the Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe's first fan fiction reading night. I'm so glad that so many of you showed up. I'm the moderator of the board, cordy_princess, and this is Andrew, aka aresisagod, who is our technical whiz."

A smattering of spontaneous applause broke out, which Cordelia acknowledged with a smile. Andrew, a short man with gelled-up blonde hair, half-rose from his seat and waved at the crowd.

"I just want to go over the ground rules for our fanfic gatherings, which will happen every night here at the con. First - all fics that people read must be uber. In the interests of time, you should keep what you read to 5,000 words or less. You are free to introduce yourself by your handle on the board, your name, both, or neither. And we want to make sure as many people have a chance to read as want to, so if you want to ask an author something, make sure you grab them after we're done - no questions and answers while we still have the lounge. We'll read as many fics as we have time for before we have to vacate at 11pm.

"To volunteer to read a story, you can just raise your hand. If a lot of people all volunteer, we'll do names in a hat. To break the ice, I brought a new fic that I'll kick off tonight with. And again - welcome!"

Cordelia put away her paper and picked up a sheaf of papers which she riffled through before beginning.

"This is called 'Makeover at the Top of the Mitten.' The setting is northern Michigan, and Xena and Gabrielle are camp counselors at a summer camp for high schoolers." Cordelia cleared her throat and began reading.

"Dawn broke over the cabins and tents that surrounded Douglas Lake. The campground was quiet, the stillness only broken by the far-off call of a crow. The surface of the lake was smooth as glass. It seemed like the wind was holding its breath in anticipation.

"A rustling sound arose from one of the cabins, and the front door opened. A blonde woman of about 19 emerged, inhaling the fresh morning air.

"She stood about 5' 4", with healthy long blonde hair that was marred only by tragically split ends. She was dressed in sweat-stained brown running shorts and a green sports bra the color of vomit. As she stood on the cabin's porch, she casually twisted up her hair into a ponytail, using a worn-out scrunchie that had seen better days. She swept back her bangs off her forehead, and they promptly fell right back over her eyes. This didn't seem to bother her, though, and she walked the three steps down to the worn dirt track of the campground's path.

"Across the path, another cabin door opened. A taller woman who was probably in her early twenties looked out and jumped over the three steps to land on the ground. Her hair was in much the same shape as her friend's, whom she acknowledged with a nod and a wave."

Willow glanced around the room, half-listening as Cordelia continued to describe the two women's bad hair, bad outfits, and how they both seemed cheerfully oblivious to the heartbreaking state of both. She was familiar with Cordelia's stories, having been a member of the message board for three months now, and knew that soon a chic young camper with brown eyes and perfectly coiffed hair would take her camp counselors in hand off to a day spa for makeovers and shopping. At the end, they would be manicured, moisturized, sans bangs, and dressed in the latest fashions - and they would thank their young counselor for opening their eyes and showing them the error of their ways.

Willow wondered who was who on the message board. Cordelia and Andrew had already introduced themselves, and she knew who Buffy and Xander were. That might be the sum total of who she could pick out of the crowd, she realized - without talking, there were no clues about whose handle matched up to their identity.

As she continued to look at people out of the corner of her eyes, her glance happened to fall on the same blonde girl they had met in the hallway earlier. She sat next to her outspoken blonde friend who had propositioned Xander, with her full attention seemingly on Cordelia. But when Willow's gaze fell upon her, she looked up as if sensing the attention.

Willow immediately shot her eyes back to Cordelia. _Caught!_ she thought to herself, as a small blush crept up on her cheeks. She sneaked another look. The girl was still looking at her, and when Willow's eyes met hers, she gave her a little half-smile.

Willow smiled back, her heart hammering in her chest. _Wow oh wow oh wow,_ she thought to herself. Their shared glance only lasted for a half-second, but it seemed to Willow that the effects would last much longer than that. _I can't believe it, she smiled at me! Those eyes. I wonder if she saw me blush and thinks I'm a total spaz?_

Tara grinned to herself as she elicited a smile from the redhead across the room. Somehow the girl's embarrassment at being caught had made her feel braver, so instead of looking away when she had first caught the redhead's eyes, she watched and waited for her to look again. She wasn't usually so forward - not that smiling at someone across a room would be considered forward in anyone else's book - but the stimulation of the day's workshops and the plenary speech combined with the other girl's discomfiture had emboldened her.

"And so Xena and Gabrielle returned to camp carrying their day's purchases - stylish activewear, waterproof mascara, and long-lasting hair conditioner. They ended the day a little less innocent than they had begun, but both knew that they would carry the tips they had learned from Hayley through the rest of their days at camp - and beyond." Applause broke out throughout the room as Cordelia spoke the last words of her story.

"Say what you will about the subject matter, the girl knows how to pace her story and wind it all up," Anya whispered to Tara.

With a bright smile, Cordelia acknowledged the applause. "Thank you so much, everyone. Okay. Now who's next?"

Anya's hand shot up.

"Okay, we have a volunteer!" Cordelia ceded the floor to Anya, who walked up to the front of the room.

"Good evening," she told the crowd. "My name is Anya, and I'm aphrodite on the message board." Several people hooted in appreciation, and Anya acknowledged them with a little bow.

"The story I'm going to read tonight is called 'Village Voluptuosa' I feel like I should have a disclaimer or something - folks, this is NC-17. Leave now if you're not up for it."

Nobody moved, so Anya began reading.

"Xena and Gabrielle approached the village they had spotted some days earlier as they crossed the foothills of the Voluptuosa mountain range. The village was nestled in a valley that lay between the V made by two hills that sloped downward to meet on the valley floor. A tightly packed bundle of buildings in the north-central part of the valley was clearly the nerve center for the community, with gardens and farmland accompanied by occasional cottages covering most of the rest of the available flat land. A small pond lay directly south of the village center.

"Xena, that's odd," Gabrielle said. "I see a pond, but there's no river or creek that feeds it."

"Must be an underground spring," Xena commented, urging Argo forward. "Not uncommon when you're so close to a mountain range."

Xander leaned over to Buffy. "What's with all the description of the surroundings? Normally aphrodite just jumps right into the smutty goodness and only describes the scenery when somebody's naked body falls down onto it in the throes of passion."

Buffy gave him a look. "If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you."

While Anya described Xena and Gabrielle's surprised and salacious discovery of the inhabitants of Voluptuosa Village and their particular proclivities, Willow's mind was wandering. _Is it cheating on wiccanbard to have smiled at some other girl? I mean, people smile at each other all the time. And wiccanbard and I are not even a couple. Heck, we haven't even really discussed anything beyond just meeting in person as a thing unto itself. Everything else has been pretty much unspoken. But there's definite implications of more, assuming that we like each other as well in person as we do online. I think. Don't want to assume anything here. Anyway. No more smiles until this is all worked out tomorrow._

Having resolved this, Willow sneaked another glance at the blonde girl. Again, as if sensing the regard, the girl looked back at Willow. They shared another smile.

_Okay, that was really the last time._

"And sated, they fell backward onto the soft and slightly sticky bed, where their subsequent dreams were filled with images of all they had done today, and promises of what else they would do tomorrow," Anya finished.

The room erupted into applause, and Anya half-curtsied as she returned to her seat.

"Bra-VO!" Xander shouted, clapping enthusiastically from his seat on the floor.

"No standing ovation?" Willow asked.

"Standing is not a good idea for me right now," Xander replied, still clapping.

The rest of the two hours passed quickly, with various authors volunteering to read stories from all genres. Some authors, like Andrew, were well-known to the entire room, while others were newer. Willow became absorbed in several of the stories, and almost before she knew it, 11pm had come and the gathering was beginning to break up.

The three friends stood up and stretched from their uncomfortable positions on the floor. Buffy yawned.

"Tired, Buff?" Xander asked, looking across the room.

"Yep," she replied. "I'm going to go upstairs and get some shuteye. Come with?"

"I'll come," Willow said. Xander shook his head, however.

"I'm going to go to talk to aphrodite - I mean, Anya. I want to tell her how much I liked her story. I'll catch up with you girls later."

"Yes, it certainly seemed to have an effect on you," Buffy deadpanned. Xander acknowledged the teasing with a wink and walked across the room to where Anya stood, surrounded by a small knot of admirers.

Willow watched him go, noticing the blonde girl she had shared smiles with hanging around near Anya, seeming to wait in the background. _They must be together,_ Willow thought to herself. _Friends, at least. Maybe more? Dunno._

Buffy interrupted her train of thought. "Coming?" Willow nodded, and the two left the room, heading for the bank of elevators.

* * *

Tara quickly tired of waiting for Anya to finish talking with the many people who wanted to speak to her about writing, writing smut, and plain old smut. She noticed the redhead leaving the room with the petite blonde she had sat next to, and felt a little twinge of regret at not talking with her. _Maybe that's for the best. No need to complicate tomorrow's meeting with amazon_hacker by meeting someone else beforehand,_ she rationalized.

Catching Anya's eye, she indicated with a motion of her head that she was heading out. Anya blew her a kiss, and she exited the room, unaware of the jealous glances aimed her way from a few of Anya's admirers.

Tara felt restless. Sitting for so long had made her a little stiff, and she thought she'd go walk in the hotel's courtyard for a bit before heading up to bed. She let herself out through the double doors and stepped into the night.

The courtyard was deserted, and the night was cool. The stars were scattered across the sky like cracker crumbs on a carpet. Tara inhaled the air as she walked aimlessly around the courtyard. Today had been such a busy day, filled with so many people and exciting ideas, she was glad of the chance to be alone and relax from the stimulation of so many people.

She sat down by the side of the courtyard path on a bench, and gazed off into space. Truth be told, she mused, she was more than a little nervous about tomorrow's proposed meeting with amazon_hacker.

Tara had been a member of the message board for a couple of years now, ever since going to college, getting regular access to the internet, and meeting Anya. Anya had been on the board slightly longer than Tara, and had introduced her new roommate to the community after the two had discovered their mutual interest in the TV show.

Tara had enjoyed reading the stories that various authors posted to the board, reveling in the ideas that people came up with. Some authors wrote about what was presumably happening between Xena and Gabrielle between episodes while sticking closely to the show's existing plotline. Others took a different tack, writing in the 'What If' genre - what if this or that hadn't happened, what if so-and-so had made a different choice, how would events have transpired differently. After the season's disastrous finale, those authors who didn't swear off the show entirely coped with the loss by writing different endings (and by posting a spate of non-complimentary comments about the show's creator who had conceived of the final episodes as fitting).

The variety of stories that Tara read on the message board delighted her, and finally she decided to try her hand at writing. Much to her surprise (but not to Anya's), she found that she had a real knack for it. She mostly wrote in the uber genre, feeling more freedom to experiment with characters and situations, and more competent to discuss aspects of Wicca than mythological monsters. But she worked hard to keep the essential character traits of Xena and Gabrielle alive, even if she did put them in different situations. And the fans on the board seemed to enjoy her work also.

Some of them enjoyed it too much. Halfway through her freshman year, after she had posted a few stories and had amassed something of a following, she began to receive a spate of private messages from a few overzealous fans, one in particular who seemed determined to meet her. A private person by nature, Tara had never posted any of her contact information online, but that didn't stop this particular user from messaging her endlessly. Finally, the board's moderators had enabled a 'block' on the user, but the experience had shaken Tara and she had resolved not to engage with anyone online and just to use the message board as a creative outlet. She still responded to comments and feedback about her stories, offered feedback to others, and participated in some of the board's other forums, but she steadily rebuffed anyone who wanted to chat with her one-on-one. That's how it had been for the rest of her freshman year and most of her sophomore year as well.

Until amazon_hacker, that is. The girl had joined the message board about three months ago, and had quickly caught Tara's attention with her own fiction, and her enthusiastic comments about Tara's and other authors' work. amazon_hacker's stories usually featured a Xena who was a reformed computer hacker who used her skills to help catch criminals who authored viruses and worms. Usually Gabrielle was a private investigator or other law enforcement type who had to overcome a grudging mistrust of the former hacker, which eventually blossomed into romance. She had a knack for explaining the complicated world of port scanning, nmap, and system vulnerability analysis in a way that anyone could understand - and her exploration of the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle especially caught Tara's attention.

It wasn't that amazon_hacker's portrayal of their relationship as lesbian was unusual - actually, having them not be lesbians was more out of the norm, at least for their message board. No, it was something about how she described their day-to-day interactions. Tara couldn't quite put her finger on it. Something about how the two would feel a pull toward each other that they tried to resist, and how they gradually overcame mistrust to discover that the other was her soul mate.

Perhaps it was that that convinced Tara to start talking one-on-one with amazon_hacker, she thought. The subconscious thought that if she could just transcend her wariness, that she, too, might find her soul mate. Although she had no such grand plans in mind when she began to chat with amazon_hacker - she just enjoyed talking to the person who left such insightful feedback about her stories, and who intrigued her so much with her descriptions of a world Tara didn't know much about. And over the last three months, she was surprised and gratified to find that amazon_hacker was a very funny, caring person who was extremely engaging. Tara looked forward to their daily chats and felt a pang when some life circumstance or other would keep them from their regular dose of talking. The two didn't discuss personal details - and not really impersonal details either. But when cordy had announced UberCon '05 and both girls planned on going, amazon_hacker had suggested that they meet up there.

Tara was apprehensive, but not terrified - which surprised her. She felt like enough of amazon_hacker's personality had come across during their months of chatting that she had developed a level of trust. And - she thought this was silly, but it was still true - she thought that the type of sweet relationship Xena and Gabrielle had in amazon_hacker's fic boded well for how the author might approach her real-life relationships.

_But that's really putting the cart before the horse,_ she thought. She looked down at her watch and was startled to realize that thirty minutes had passed while she was reminiscing. She stood up and headed back into the hotel to get some sleep.


	5. Insomnia

Buffy turned over in the bed and stopped snoring. _Thank goodness,_ Willow thought, lying next to her. _I would never have been able to get to sleep with that racket._ At that moment, Buffy began to snore again - deep, even breaths that sounded for all the world like an electric buzzsaw. Each snore seemed to enter Willow's ears and wrap around her brain with almost a tangible presence, prodding her more and more awake. Finally in frustration she got out of the bed.

Buffy lay on her side with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her mouth was slightly open, which only served to amplify the volume of her snores. She was drooling on her pillow and was facing directly toward Willow's side of the bed.

_I love Buffy, but she is definitely not at her most attractive when she's asleep. And where is Xander? Why must I suffer alone? Does Buffy have apnea?_ Willow's mood was rapidly deteriorating. _Well, there's no point in staying in here if I can't sleep._

She walked over to her suitcase and removed her pajamas, pulling on the jeans and shirt she had worn earlier that day. She grimaced when she realized she had forgotten to pack any books, but saw a magazine peeking out from Buffy's shoulder bag. She grabbed the magazine, her wallet, and a key, and eased the door open carefully so as to not make a loud noise.

Buffy turned over in her sleep and was silent. Willow slowly allowed the door handle to close. As the door let out a soft _snick_, Willow heard Buffy begin to snore again. Rolling her eyes, Willow made for the elevator.

* * *

Tara leaned against the elevator wall as she rode up to her room. She was tired from the long day and instead of stretching out in the courtyard as she had planned, she had sat for another half hour, lost in thought. _I'm looking forward to lying down,_ she thought.

As she walked down the hallway, she spotted something on the door handle of her and Anya's shared hotel room. "Huh," she said, fingering the nylon stocking that was tied into a bow around the handle. She unfolded the piece of paper that was taped to the door just above the stocking and read it.

__T-__

_I promise, no longer than 30 minutes._

_xoxo,_  
_An_

Tara sighed, but was more resigned than annoyed. She and Anya had discussed what to do if either one of them had a romantic liaison over the weekend, and had agreed on the tried-and-true sock-on the-doorknob method. Tara had known she probably wouldn't be taking advantage of the need for privacy, but clearly Anya needed some now. _I should have put some time-of-night parameters around this,_ Tara thought. As she took out a pen to write on the back of the paper - _I'll be down in the coffee shop, T_ \- she caught the faint strains of voices coming through the door.

A deep voice, singing. _Singing?_ "He's Xander the mighty, he always looks tidy, everybody loves him, 'cause he's got a funny grin…"

Then a higher-pitched voice. "Anya is his sidekick, playing with his little stick…"

"LITTLE?"

"Aw, Xander, it's not how big your sword is, but the vigor you bring to the fight." The voices gave way to some muffled sounds of shrieking and thrashing, followed by "No tickling!"

Tara checked her watch and marked the time as she slid the note under the door. _If Anya doesn't come get me within a half hour, then I'll just have to come up here and break it up._ She smirked to herself, knowing that she would probably do no such thing, but enjoying the thought. She turned away from the occupied room and walked back down the hallway toward the elevator.

* * *

Willow settled into the padded bench of the booth. She had been pleasantly surprised to find the coffee shop still open, and even more pleased to find that they offered a selection of herbal tea. _Maybe a dose of kava kava will knock me out. And if not, I can always stuff the teabag into my ears,_ she thought wryly as she tugged on the teabag's string as it floated in the teapot. She replaced the lid to allow it to steep, and turned her attention to the magazine she had borrowed from Buffy.

It was a martial arts magazine, with articles about all facets of the sport - techniques, personality profiles of prominent athletes, and advertisements for karate schools. _Not my usual cup of tea - ha ha - but any port in a storm,_ Willow thought. She began to read an article comparing the two disciplines of karate and kung fu, and found herself more interested than she would have thought.

The fan fiction she had written for this weekend was a departure from her usual genre. In her previous fiction, Willow had placed Xena and Gabrielle in the world of computer hacking, since computers were such a big part of her own life. She wrote about what she knew best, and hoped she explained the technical aspects of her stories in a way that was understandable for the lay person. Buffy was an excellent sounding board for most of those stories, having basic knowledge of how computers worked from an end user perspective, but not knowing much about programming or hacking. If Buffy understood the technical parts - and better yet, found them interesting - then Willow knew she was writing at the right level for most readers.

She had found herself a little more out of her element in her latest fic. Her ongoing chats with wiccanbard had turned her thoughts to magic, and she began to play around with an idea about incorporating the use of magic into a story. That, combined with a movie night at Buffy's house where they had first watched _Charmed_ (at Buffy's kid sister Dawn's insistence) and later _Dracula_, had given her the basic framework for her idea: Xena as the 'chosen one,' a vampire slayer, assisted by her witch friend (and lover) Gabrielle.

She had found the fight scenes harder to write than she had anticipated, not being much of a fighter herself. As she scanned the article in Buffy's magazine, she began to make mental notes of how she could incorporate some of the fighting techniques that were discussed into her story. _'Xena knocked her assailant's feet out from under him with a snap kick'_ sounds better than _'Xena kicked him in the shins,'_ she mused.

Thinking about her story led her to thoughts of wiccanbard. She was excited about their planned meeting. She had been chatting online with the girl for well on three months now, and knew almost from the first that she had stumbled across something special.

Willow's friendships were important to her - she and Xander had been friends since childhood, and were a close as siblings - closer, probably. She and Buffy had been fast friends ever since Buffy had moved to Sunnydale at the beginning of high school. Buffy's carefree ease and free spirit had helped nudge Willow to out of her shell and to view herself not just as a nerd, but as a fun person who was worth knowing. Together, the three of them formed a tight group that was unconditionally supportive and accepting of each other. Their common interest in the show _Xena: Warrior Princess_, which began its first season at the beginning of their high school freshman year, was just another activity they could participate in together.

Each person found something different in the show, and took something different away from it. Buffy loved the fighting - the swordplay, the hand-to-hand combat, and especially Xena's war cry. Her appreciation for the fighting had led her to begin practicing martial arts in high school, and her natural ability helped her quickly ascend the ranks until now, halfway through college, she was helping to teach classes at the dojo. The discipline and concentration that karate required, combined with the cathartic outlet of physical exertion, gave Buffy a grounding influence in her life - an anchor from which she could face things like her parents' divorce, the strain of being the new kid in a brand new high school, and putting up with her well-loved but often annoying little sister.

Xander saw the show at first mainly through the lens of his adolescent hormones, watching mainly because Willow and Buffy did (and with eyes only for Xena's ample breastplate and Gabrielle's toned midriff). As the seasons waxed on, though, he began to identify with Joxer, the goofy recurring character who desperately wanted to be a warrior but never seemed to quite measure up. As the show wore on and Joxer progressed from comic relief to a character with more depth and a pivotal role to play in the battle for good, Xander began to realize that his own clowning around was a defense against his unease about his tumultuous family life and his feelings of difference from his friends since he did not head on to college as they did after high school. Understanding this helped him to a new level of acceptance, and he had become more comfortable with his life plans.

Willow found something else in the show - something unexpected. She had spent most of her life feeling different from other people - she was the smart kid, the computer nerd, she had detached and often-absent parents, she felt unpopular and unattractive, couldn't talk to boys (except Xander, who didn't count), and of course the other usual teenage woes. She hadn't thought it was particularly unusual that she wasn't boy-crazy like all of her other peers in high school - she just chalked it up to yet another characteristic that set her apart, wondering occasionally on dark nights of the soul if something inside her was broken in that regard. But Buffy's own boy-craziness often made it seem like there was plenty to go around.

But watching Xena and Gabrielle's relationship evolve over the course of time evoked a deep emotional response from Willow, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on at first. The depth of their friendship was apparent, as was the deep bond they forged and reaffirmed through challenges and tribulations. In watching certain scenes, Willow found herself glued to the television set with a thumping heart.

_Gabrielle was poisoned, and Xena wept, holding her near-lifeless body, begging the gods to give Gabrielle back to her, and exhorting Gabrielle to fight for her life. Gabrielle got married, and Xena kept up a brave face, only faltering a bit as she placed a kiss on her friend's lips to bid her goodbye. Xena died, and possessed Autolycus's body - and kissed Gabrielle passionately on the astral plane. And of course, Xena and Gabrielle hastily awakened in a haystack, clearly having been interrupted from some intimate discourse._

At first, Willow wasn't quite sure what to make of her reaction to scenes like this - it seemed like all she felt was an achingly sweet longing and sadness. During her junior year of high school, she began to have a glimmer of an idea, and by the end of her senior year, she had begun to realize - and accept - that the longing she felt while watching the show was actually the longing she felt for a similar bond with another person. A female person.

After embracing this revelation, much of her life began to make more sense. She wasn't flawed or emotionally stunted, as she had begun to fear - she was simply interested in girls rather than boys. During the summer before college, she told Buffy and Xander about her realization, and they readily accepted and adjusted to it.

Xander, in private, had asked her soon after, "So do you, you know, like Buffy in that way?" Willow had considered this already. "I love Buffy. She's really important to me. But it's not like that between us - and I'm not carrying any kind of unrequited love torch, either. I don't really know how to explain it other than to say that I love her, but not in that way." "But you think she's attractive, right?" Xander pressed. "Well sure - she is attractive. But I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to love than just finding someone aesthetically pleasing." "Not that I've experienced," Xander said. Willow smiled at him. "Well, not yet, maybe. I mean, I've never been in love either - but I'm sure it's probably a pretty overwhelming experience." "Overwhelming like how?" Willow shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'll just know it when I feel it."

That conversation stuck with her through the rest of the summer. _What is it like to fall in love?_ she wondered. Observation didn't yield much insight - her parents' relationship seemed more like a business partnership than a passionate romance. Xander didn't date often, although not for lack of trying. Buffy's string of roller-coaster romances seemed to Willow not exactly the stuff of real love. And as for Willow herself, she didn't think she had yet met the right person, because her yearning never found a focus in any of the girls she met.

In college she enrolled in computer science classes during the first term of her freshman year, of course, but surprised herself by also picking up a creative writing elective. _Maybe writing about this will help me to figure some of it out,_ she thought. Unsure of where to begin, however, she used the framework of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship to give her stories focus and structure (changing their names, though - she didn't think Jenny, the graduate student who taught her creative writing course, would approve of using characters that were not original).

Though the process of writing stories didn't yield any greater truths, Willow found that she enjoyed it - so much so that she continued with the courses throughout the remainder of her freshman year and sophomore year as well. Toward the end of her sophomore year, Jenny pulled her aside after class.

"Willow, I want to ask you something. It's about your stories. You seem to use the same two characters pretty often as your protagonists - a tall brunette with a dark past, and a blonde who helps to redeem her in some way." Willow gulped internally. _This must be my day of reckoning. Am I going to get in trouble for plagiarism?_ "Um, yeah," she said. "They're sort of based on two characters in a TV show. Oh god, am I in trouble?" Jenny laughed. "Not with me. I'm a big Xena fan - I started catching some of the reruns earlier this year and the dynamic between those two really reminded me of your work. Just thought I'd ask you about it." Willow relaxed a little. "Yeah, I've been watching Xena ever since it first came on." "You know, Willow, you have talent. If you ever want to publish your stories, you'll need to write characters that are original, or at least not based so heavily on Xena and Gabrielle. But right now you clearly have an interest in this particular genre, and I think you might benefit from interacting with some other writers who share your interest. There are lots of fan communities out there on the internet where you can share your work and get feedback from other people who know the show and who also write about it. I'd recommend that you check it out."

Willow was no stranger to the internet, although most of her online activities centered around computer software and hardware, programming, and hacking techniques. But Jenny's encouragement had planted a seed, and Google led her to a Xena and Gabrielle fan message board called The Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe.

True to Jenny's prediction, Willow had thrived in the fan community. She enjoyed reading other people's works, often finding more depth and satisfaction in them than she did in the actual show. And after the last two episodes - which ended the series so abruptly and illogically, in her mind - the message board provided a healing balm. It was truly a world where Xena and Gabrielle could exist together forever, untouched by the whims and vagaries of the show's writers.

And it was also a world where Willow met wiccanbard. At first, wiccanbard was simply one of Willow's favorite authors, whose characterization of Xena and Gabrielle and the pacing of their relationship touched a chord with Willow. wiccanbard's portrayal of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was that of a gently supportive friendship that gradually grew in intensity and passion. wiccanbard described this gradual blossoming of trust and intimacy in slow, loving detail - generating many exhortations from her fans for frequent updates.

Willow's appreciative feedback for wiccanbard's stories was returned with thankful replies, and then comments of wiccanbard's own on Willow's stories. And comments led to more replies, which led to private messaging and then chatting. Willow's attention drifted from the karate/kung fu article as she remembered the first message wiccanbard had sent to her.

* * *

**Private Message  
From: ** wiccanbard  
**To: ** amazon_hacker  
**April 4, 2005 4:32pm  
**  
um, hi there. i just wanted to let you know again how much i really, really like the story that you're writing. the last update kept me guessing - i wondered who the mysterious rogue hacker was, and turns out it was gabrielle! brilliant - even though she professes to suspect xena of being the author of the virus, she clearly has doubts enough to want to throw her bosses off the trail for a while until she figures it out.

anyway, i am really enjoying this story and hope that you continue with it.

wiccanbard

**Private Message  
From: ** amazon_hacker  
**To: ** wiccanbard  
**April 4, 2005 5:03pm  
**  
Hi! Wow, what a great surprise - to come home from class and find a private message from one of my favorite authors in my inbox! Thank you so much - this last update was a bit of a challenge because I was trying to find a way to show how Gabrielle senses that Xena's not the bad guy (well, not guy, bad girl? That sounds not quite right...bad person maybe?) without having her do something completely unethical since she's an FBI agent, 'cause that seems out of character.

It means a lot to me to know that you like my fic. Your characterizations of their relationship in your stories are really right on - I feel like I'm living in the story when I'm reading, and I can hear the characters in my head saying the words that you've written. It's so...dialogue-y.

amazon_hacker

**Private Message  
From: ** wiccanbard  
**To: ** amazon_hacker  
**April 4, 2005 5:07pm  
**  
"dialogue-y" ?

**Private Message  
From: ** amazon_hacker  
**To: ** wiccanbard  
**April 4, 2005 5:09pm  
**  
That probably didn't make as much sense to read as it did in my head. I guess what I meant to say was that the way you write what they're saying sounds really natural even when saying it out loud. Not that I sit around reading out loud! Well, not often anyway. LOL. Hey, we're online at the same time - want to chat?

a_h

**Private Message  
From: ** wiccanbard  
**To: ** amazon_hacker  
**April 4, 2005 5:14pm  
**  
ummmm. i don't really go into the chat room, like ever...

**Private Message  
From: ** amazon_hacker  
**To: ** wiccanbard  
**April 4, 2005 5:15pm**

Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. Did I come across as really pushy asking you if you wanted to chat? 'Cause I don't mean to - I just figured it would be faster than trading private messages back and forth, seeing that we're both online at the same time. But that's okay - private messaging is fine also. Finey McFine fine. But I wasn't even suggesting the board's chat room - it's fun and all but can be kinda crazy sometimes and not that great for conversation between two people. I could set up a private chat room that only the two of us would have access to. Hmmm - that sounds a little seedy, but I swear I don't mean it that way. Oh gosh, you're never going to private message me again, are you?

**Private Message  
From: **wiccanbard  
**To: ** amazon_hacker  
**April 4, 2005 5:18pm**

:) actually, if you can set up a private chat room, that would be...kind of neat. i'd like that. could you tell me how to get into it? i'm not much of a chat expert.

**Private Message  
From: ** amazon_hacker  
**To: ** wiccanbard  
**April 4, 2005 5:19pm**

Sure! Great! Here's all you'll need to do - just go to .org and connect to channel #quill - it will ask you for a password to enter the private chat room. Do you want to tell me a password that you'll remember and I'll set the chat room password to that for this session?

**Private Message  
From: ** wiccanbard  
**To: ** amazon_hacker  
**April 4, 2005 5:20pm**

okay - how about insectreflection ?

**Private Message  
From: ** amazon_hacker  
**To: ** wiccanbard  
**April 4, 2005 5:21pm**

Got it.

Establishing connection...  
Connecting to client .org  
Joining channel #quill as amazon_hacker  
**amazon_hacker:** insectreflection?  
**wiccanbard:** sort of a long story  
**amazon_hacker:** is it a wicca thing?  
**wiccanbard:** yep  
**amazon_hacker:** so you've never chatted on the irc before?  
**wiccanbard:** well, once a long time ago but everyone's spelling was really bad. it was depressing  
**amazon_hacker:** lol. yeah, it seems like a lot of people tend to let spelling go by the wayside on the internet. one of the casualties of progress, i guess.  
**wiccanbard:** but there are some sticklers for spelling and punctuation  
**amazon_hacker:** yes, we are a small but proud group  
**wiccanbard:** can you see what i'm typing as i type it?  
**amazon_hacker:** no, only when you press return - then it all shows up at once  
**wiccanbard:** good, because my spelling isn't always perfect - sometimes i have to look things up  
**amazon_hacker:** that's what spellcheck is for. hey, that's funny - spelling, spellcheck, and then the wiccan variety of spells. is there a spellcheck for spells? or a spellcheck spell?  
**wiccanbard:** ha!

* * *

Willow came out of her reverie as she noticed someone enter the otherwise empty coffee shop. The girl walked up to the counter and appeared to be ordering something to drink. Willow's view was partially obscured by a pillar that blocked her line of sight, and she leaned over to get a better look. _Oh my gosh, I think it's HER - that blonde girl who caught me smiling at her at the fanfic reading!_

The blonde girl accepted a steaming mug from the man behind the counter and turned to find a seat. Willow had ducked back behind the pillar, fidgeting nervously. _Should I go ask her if she'd like to sit with me?_

"I-is this seat taken?"

Willow's head snapped up. The blonde girl was standing in front of her table, toying with her mug of tea and shifting from foot to foot as she awaited Willow's response.

"No, it's not - I'm alone. Would you like to join me?" Willow folded her magazine and made room at the table, her heart thumping both from the surprise and the proximity of the girl.

The blonde smiled as she slid into the empty seat. "Thanks."

"No problem," Willow answered. "My name's Willow. I saw you earlier tonight."

"I'm Tara."

"It's nice to meet you. Whatcha doing up so late - couldn't sleep?"

Tara made a wry face as she removed the teabag from her mug and set it on a napkin. "Not exactly. My roommate sort of met someone tonight so I'm giving her a little bit of privacy."

"Wow," Willow sympathized. "My roommate is snoring and it's so loud, there's no possible way that I could have fallen asleep - so I came down here to read and hopefully get kind of sleepy." At that moment, she let out a yawn which she embarrassedly tried to stifle with one hand.

Tara glanced at the torn teabag wrapper that lay by Willow's teapot. "Kava kava?"

Willow nodded.

"That stuff will probably make you more than sleepy. I almost never drink it because it sort of knocks me out." Tara indicated her own mug. "C-chamomile is about the strongest of the relaxant teas that I can handle."

"I just asked the guy if there was a tea that would help me sleep - I guess he picked the right thing," Willow said. "Wow, you're not kidding - I do feel kind of loopy." She yawned again. "I swear, it's not the conversation."

Tara smiled. She liked this girl - there was something about her friendliness that put Tara at ease. Her stutter, which usually appeared when she was nervous or uncomfortable, had barely registered at all during their short conversation. And there were also butterflies in her stomach - butterflies that had almost prevented her from approaching the girl in the first place, and that the chamomile tea wasn't doing much to calm. But she had figured that the coffee shop was fairly deserted and it seemed silly to sit alone, especially since the two had exchanged glances earlier. _It doesn't mean anything,_ she rationalized. _I'm still meeting amazon_hacker tomorrow. I'm just being friendly and meeting people. That's what you're supposed to do at a convention, right?_

The redhead seemed to have been reading a martial arts magazine - she was probably one of the variety of Xena fans who was into the action and fighting aspects of the show. As Willow rubbed her eyes and yawned, Tara noticed something written on the back of the magazine in black ink.

**Property of xenarulz**

_Ah, I know who that is,_ Tara thought. xenarulz was a member of the Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe message board, and was exactly the type of fan Tara had been thinking of - very into discussing the fight sequences and what fighting styles they embodied. Tara never followed those discussions very closely - she was more interested in the other parts of the storylines and often would fast-forward through the fight scenes if they stretched on for too long.

"So - is this the first time you've been to a convention?" Tara asked.

At that moment, Anya entered the coffee shop and looked around. "Tara!" she called out, spying her roommate. "I'm all done with my naughty romp! You can come to bed now!"

Tara nodded to Anya and smiled apologetically at Willow as she stood up. "Well, Willow, it was r-really nice to meet you. I hope you're able to get to sleep tonight." She gave Willow a half-smile.

Willow smiled back. "Thanks," she replied. "I don't think getting to sleep will be a problem - this tea really seems to have done the trick. It was nice meeting you too. And yes, this is my first time at a convention." She watched Tara walk across the room to meet Anya and a faint glimmer of recognition crossed her face. _I wonder if that's where Xander has been all night? Boys! Why is it always so easy with them?_ She carried her empty mug and teapot to the counter and stuck Buffy's magazine in her pocket as she headed for the stairs and to her bed, still yawning.

Tara nudged Anya as they rode up the elevator to their room. "So you didn't waste any time, I see, reeling in one of your many fans," she teased.

"Doesn't look like you wasted any time either. I'd be happy to stay down here and have a cup of tea if you want to take your new friend upstairs to have orgasms." Anya replied.

"Anya, jeez! We just happened to both be in the coffee shop at the same time. Her because her roommate was snoring, and me because my roommate was busy hooking up - or auditioning for the next Xena musical episode, by the sound of it," Tara said.

"Listening at doors, my love?" Anya didn't even look abashed. "Anyway, quit trying to throw the focus off yourself. Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

"I don't protest at all. This was just a coincidence, and tomorrow I'm meeting amazon_hacker and you'll have something new to tease me about," Tara said with an air of finality.

"And if amazon_hacker really is this redhead?" Anya asked.

"Then we'd have a great story to tell. But she's not - I saw her handle written on her magazine, and it's xenarulz. You know the one from the board who's really into the fighting parts of the show?"

"Oh, that's disappointing," Anya said. "If this were a fan fiction story, she'd definitely be amazon_hacker and you'd ride off into the sunset together."

"Well, it's not. This is real life," Tara replied, unlocking their hotel room door. She felt a twinge of disappointment as she said it. More than a twinge, actually. _But tomorrow is another day._


	6. Conned

The alarm clock went off, playing a song from the local classic rock station. Tara slowly awoke from her slumber, and reached over to turn the alarm off. The clock's green digital numerals glowed 7:20. She lay back and stretched, then sat up.

Anya had drawn the curtains last night, and the room was dark. Tara swung her feet over the side of the bed and walked over to the curtains, pulling them wide so the morning sun suddenly flooded the room.

"Ugh, Tara, too bright!" protested a sleepy Anya, pulling her pillow over her head.

Tara smiled at her roommate. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead. It's Saturday and your workshop is at 10:30. You made me promise not to let you sleep in."

"Oh, all right. 'I'll rise, but I refuse to shine'," Anya quoted Gabrielle as she threw off the pillow, sheets, and blankets. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room from her bed and scrubbed her hands through her tousled hair.

"Do you want the first shower or the second?" Tara asked.

"You go ahead. I'm going to make some coffee and go over my handouts first," Anya said.

"And figure out how to turn last night into a scene for one of your stories?"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Anya said. "I have a feeling about this one. He's kind of...different. More than just a roll in the haystack."

Tara smiled and went into the bathroom. _Even Anya isn't immune to Cupid's arrow, it seems._ She flipped on the light switch, which bathed the white-tiled room in harsh fluorescent light and started up a noisy fan. She selected toiletries and a washcloth and turned on the shower.

When the water had heated up enough, Tara stepped in under the spray and allowed the water to soak through her hair. She squeezed some shampoo into her hand, and set about lathering it up.

_Lather, rinse, repeat,_ she thought and she worked up the suds. _Does anyone ever actually repeat? I never do, unless I've been camping or something. So why do they put 'repeat' on the instructions?_ She smiled at the question, and thought she would have to ask amazon_hacker during their next chat session. It was the kind of question the girl would probably either know the answer to, or else she would spend a few minutes searching the internet and would then relay to Tara some of the more outlandish or humorous theories that were out there.

_No chatting today, I can just ask her in person at noon,_ Tara though. A knot of anxiety formed in the pit of her stomach as she had the thought. _Although she might think I'm kind of weird if that's the first question I have for her._ She began to work conditioner through her long hair.

The closer the meeting came, the more nervous Tara felt and she wondered if what she was doing was actually a good idea. As long as amazon_hacker was just a personality on the message board and a chatting partner, then she existed in Tara's mind as a quirky, energetic, and fun person who was easy to talk to. And amazon_hacker the internet personality seemed to like Tara quite a bit. But what if she was different in person?

What if she was just as shy as Tara was, or loud and obnoxious, and none of the friendly quirkiness came through? Tara knew that it was possible. Though she hadn't met a lot of people through the internet, Anya had met her fair share of friends and/or lovers online. Sometimes people created a personality online that was completely different from who they were in their day-to-day life - either as an escape, or to fulfill some fantasy, or for some other reason. There was no way to tell.

_Well, not everybody does that,_ Tara amended her thought as she rinsed the conditioner from her hair. _Anya tells me I'm pretty much the same online as I am in real life, and I can't be the only one. And same with her - pretty much what you see is what you get._ She reached for the soap and washcloth and finished up her shower.

"All done, Anya!" she called as she turned off the shower and wrapped her hair in a towel.

Really, there was no way to be certain of anything about amazon_hacker without doing exactly what she was planning to do today - meet her in person. And hey - maybe amazon_hacker was having the same doubts and nervousness as she was. Tara felt a little better as she contemplated this. _At least we're on equal footing._

* * *

The curtains were closed, and only a thin strip of sunlight filtered into the otherwise dark room. The light illuminated the nightstand, which held an untidy jumble of Buffy's martial arts magazine, a half-full glass of water, some crumped-up bits of paper, and the clock radio, which read 8:24.

As the morning progressed, the strip of light inched slowly to the right until it fell across Willow's sleeping face. She twitched and frowned. When that didn't make the offending light go away, she waved a hand in front of her face as if shooing a fly. Finally she opened her eyes.

"Darn light," she mumbled. She looked to her left, where Buffy lay curled up tucked down in the blankets, with only a tuft of blonde hair peeking out. On the other bed Xander sprawled out on his back, deeply asleep. As she assessed everyone's position, her gaze fell on the clock radio.

8:34 a.m.

"OH MY GOD! Wake up, you guys, wake up!" Willow shouted.

Buffy jerked awake with her hands held in front of her in a defensive posture. Xander shot up and looked around. "Wha...?" he asked, still half-asleep.

"It's 8:34! No, 8:35!" Willow said, looking at the clock. "We overslept! I thought you set the alarm, Buffy," she continued as she examined the clock.

"I did set the alarm," Buffy protested, rubbing her eyes.

"And I checked it. Why didn't it go off?" Willow asked. She examined the radio. "It should have."

"What time did you set it for?" asked Xander.

"7:15," Buffy said.

"Hmmm," said Xander. "I was having a dream that I was Fred Flintstone working at the quarry, and that the whistle blew for quitting time, so I jumped off my dinosaur and had to throw out my hands for balance as I slid down his neck. I must have hit the alarm clock and turned it off."

"And I didn't even hear it, I was so knocked out by that tea," Willow said as she got out of bed and opened her suitcase. She removed a toiletry kit and some clothes. "Okay, quick showers - I'll take five minutes, tops, and then we can make it to the panel discussions."

Buffy collapsed back onto her pillow as Willow flew into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

* * *

"Fascinating, huh?" Tara said to Anya as they left the Pacific Room at the close of the "Our Favorite Fics" panel discussion. "The one thing that all the fanfic authors on that panel had in common is a love for smut - from the ones who write G-rated stuff to the full-time smut writers."

"Not so surprising," Anya replied. "Everyone's a smut addict at heart; most people just don't admit it. That's most of the reason that there's any fan fiction at all, you know. Just look at the page views for NC-17 fics vs. PG."

"What, smut is the whole reason fan fiction exists?"

"Of course! No TV show is going to show the details of a sexual relationship, especially in a show like Xena where it's all implied and inside jokes. Even if it were a relationship the writers acknowledged openly, I doubt the network censors would let them show same-sex kissing. It's all metaphors."

"You're probably right, at least in this day and age," Tara mused. "Unless it was on cable."

"Well, compared to back when fan fiction started, we have it pretty good."

"Why, when did fan fiction start?"

"Back in the 70's, when _Star Trek_ was on, and then it was cancelled," Anya answered. "As I understand it, back when the show first came on, quite a few people saw subtext in the Captain Kirk/Spock relationship. So they wrote their own stories about it."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! And think how hard it was for those people to coordinate and share their stories. They had to publish fanzines - _actual hard copies_ \- and mail them to each other, can you believe it? There's been a literal explosion of fanfic since the internet was invented. Xena is just the beginning. There's fan fiction for Harry Potter, that '70's show, the Golden Girls, you name it. Even fan fiction about fan fiction."

Tara shook her head. "Well, I suppose people will always want to write about what interests them and make up their own stories about what they think happened, or ought to have happened."

"Yes, and if you follow that thought, that means the Bible is really just one big fan fiction anthology."

Tara grinned. "I think you should teach a course in this stuff, An. Speaking of which, your workshop starts in 15 minutes - you'd better go."

"Always looking out for me," Anya said affectionately as she gave Tara a quick hug. "Wish me luck!"

"You don't need luck - you're a bona fide NC-17 expert in both word and deed," Tara replied. "But good luck anyway." She returned the hug.

"And good luck to YOU!" Anya said as she turned to go. "With your noon meeting."

Tara acknowledged Anya's words with a half-smile, and exhaled as Anya walked away. _The moment draws closer, and I haven't fainted yet._

She walked down the hallway toward the Sunrise Room C where the workshop she was attending, Writer's Workshop 101, was being held. She was a few minutes early and selected a seat across from the door near the window. She laid her bag on the floor and turned to look out the window.

She had decided to attend the writer's workshop by default. The costume workshop, which was being led by Cordelia, held no interest for her, especially since she was sure that Cordelia would take most of the time to hand out unsolicited fashion advice to the hapless attendees. She wasn't interested in perfecting her Xena war cry, either. And though she would have gladly supported her roommate's NC-17 workshop by attending, Anya had confided to her that she would probably feel less nervous if Tara didn't attend. Tara found it funny to contemplate Anya being nervous, since the girl was so outspoken and direct, but knew she was one of the rare few that Anya could share her insecure side with. So the writer's workshop it was.

People began to file into the room as the minute hand on the clock drew closer to 10:30. Two people, a man and a woman, were clearly the workshop leaders, as they were unpacking handouts and checking the flip chart. The room held about 75 people, Tara estimated, and the available seats filled up quickly. The workshop leaders noted the time, and the man cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Hi everyone! Welcome to the Writer's Workshop 101 - 'Becoming a Bard.' My name is Corey, and I run an uberfic archive called _Down the Rabbit Hole_."

"And I'm Sylvia - I've been a fanfic author for about three years now. I publish on a few different message boards and listservs. Corey and I want to thank you for coming. We're a pretty big group here, so please bear with us. We have about 90 minutes and we're going to try to get to everything on our agenda. We'll be breaking up into small groups for a lot of the discussions and activities."

While Sylvia was speaking, Tara noticed the door open and Willow, the redhead she had spoken to last night, entered the room a little sheepishly. She eased the door closed without allowing it to slam, and took the nearest open seat she could find.

Corey continued, "To start with - can we have a show of hands: how many people are already writing and have published a fanfic?" About half the room raised their hands - including Willow, Tara noticed. _Funny, I haven't noticed any fics written by xenarulz on the board_. "And how many haven't written yet, but want to?" The other half of the room raised their hands. "Great - we have some people who've done this before. You can help the virgins."

Someone called out "I think that's the other workshop." There was a smattering of laughter.

Corey laughed also. "I should clarify, the experienced _writers_ can help the _writing_ virgins. Okay, we're going to pass out some handouts that have some exercises we're going to ask you to do, and then we're going to count off by...tens, I guess, so we end up with small groups of about six."

Sylvia and Corey passed out stacks of papers, and there was shuffling and rustling as everyone took a handout and passed along the stack to their neighbors. When all the handouts were distributed, Sylvia said "Okay, people - count off by tens."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Tara watched the count progress through the room, saying "Six," when it reached her. As the count traveled around to the opposite side of the room, she felt disappointment when Willow's number came up "Four." She had enjoyed talking to the girl last night and was half-hoping they would end up in the same group. _Only half-hoping, Tara?_

She gave Corey and Sylvia her attention as they relayed some basics about writing - plot, dialogue, and character development - and as they detailed the first exercise for the small groups to undertake. The room erupted into minor chaos as people stood up to shift their seats to sit with their group members.

Though she had been writing for a while, Tara concentrated on the exercises and found herself enjoying them. The tasks Corey and Sylvia had come up with were fun, and Tara was appreciating the small group discussions and feedback her group was giving to each other. Periodically the dull roar of ten groups simultaneously talking was punctuated by an especially loud _"Ay yi yi yi yi yi yi yi yi!"_ from the ululation workshop next door, causing the writers to crack up.

Tara smiled to herself. Here she was, surrounded by people who both liked reading and writing fan fiction, who appreciated a quirky TV show as much as she did, and next door were more of the same fans finding community with each other.

Toward the end of the workshop, Tara glanced at the clock. _11:45. Almost time_. She scanned the room, and noticed that Willow was gone. _I wonder if she went to go get in line early for the autograph session._

* * *

Willow was panic-stricken. As noon had neared, she had reached down into her bag to caress the comforting bulge in the side pocket. She frowned - it felt a little different. She had reached down into the pocket, and had pulled out...a couple of sugar packets. _Where did these come from? Where's my pin?_ She had pulled her bag into her lap and had rummaged through the side pocket, and then the main compartment. But the purple kitten pin that she was going to wear - the only way wiccanbard had to identify her - was definitely not there. She had left the workshop early and was on her way up to her room for a search mission.

She wasted no time waiting for the elevator, opting instead to sprint up the two flights of stairs. She entered the room in a rush. The maid had already been by that morning, as the beds were crisply made and the hastily flung towels on the bathroom floor had been replaced with fresh ones.

Willow made a beeline for her suitcase and searched the main compartment, and then the zippered pouches inside. With gradually increasing panic, she took the suitcase and upended it on the floor, then shook it. She then shook out every article of clothing individually to make sure nothing was stuck to her clothes

Abandoning the suitcase, Willow looked under and behind the desk and the nightstand, and threw open the drawers. Still nothing. She got down on her hands and knees and peered under both beds. Finally, as a last resort, she pulled off the comforters and the sheets- she didn't know how the pin could have made its way into the bedding, but it was her last chance.

Willow tried to hold back tears of frustration as she looked at the clock-radio, which read 11:55. _Okay, I need to keep it together or else I'll have no chance of figuring this out. My pin is definitely not in my bag, or my suitcase, or anywhere else in the room. I don't know where it could have gone, but I can worry about that later. Right now I just need to figure out what to do._

Her eyes opened wide as she hit upon a plan. She flew up from the bed and dashed out the door.

* * *

"Thank you all so much for coming," Corey and Sylvia told the group. "We look forward to reading your stories on the net, especially from you first-time authors. Drop us a line and let us know when you post them!"

Tara gathered up her papers. The clock read 11:55, which gave her just enough time to arrive at the exhibit center on time. Her pulse, which had been thumping at an elevated pace for the last 10 minutes, sped up even more. She took a deep breath to calm herself as she made her way through the crush of people and walked down the hall to the exhibit center.

Heart hammering, she entered the large room. She paused at the entrance as she took in the scene.

To the right of the entryway she had come through in the center of the room was a table that held a bottle of water and a couple of pens. An empty chair was placed behind it, and velvet ropes cordoned off an aisle of sorts directly in front. Two people wearing official-looking badges stood nearby - one to the side of the chair, and one in front of the roped-off aisle.

A long line of people stretched back from the beginning of the aisle all the way back to the opposite side of the room, and then turned the corner along the opposite wall. Tara estimated there were 200 people in line already, and the morning workshops were just beginning to let out. People at the back of the line would likely be waiting for an hour or more to get an autograph and 30 seconds of conversation from Alexandra Tydings.

_Anya will be in line for a while - she's not even here yet._ Tara figured that Anya's workshop must have run long. She made her way slowly around the room. _Okay, we agreed to meet in the exhibit center at noon, but it's pretty big_. She thought that finding amazon_hacker wouldn't be too hard, since most of the occupants of the room were already in line, and those people who were coming in now were pretty much headed directly for the autograph line. Only a few people were browsing the other booths, looking at merchandise.

The buzz in the room increased in volume as a slim blonde entered through a side door, escorted by a third official with a badge. They walked over to the empty table, and the blonde sat down. The volunteer by the line escorted the first person up to the table, who let out a squeal as she handed over a magazine for Alex Tydings to sign.

As she walked past a booth that was piled high with books, jewelry, DVDs and videotapes, and magnets, Tara noticed a solitary figure standing a few booths away. The person was instead watching the autograph session with a cool gaze, leaning back against a pillar. Black jeans and a tight-fitting black shirt clung to her athletic frame. The v-neck of the shirt plunged daringly low, showcasing her cleavage. Curly dark hair framed her face. Shocking red lipstick highlighted her mouth, and the only colorful part of her outfit was a small purple pin on her shirt. As Tara drew closer, she saw that it was indeed a kitten with a dangly tail.

Tara nerved herself as she approached the woman. The woman shifted her gaze to Tara as she came closer.

"H-hi," Tara said.

"Hello," the woman replied, running her gaze over Tara's body.

"Um. I'm wiccanbard. My real name is Tara. And you must be amazon_hacker," Tara said. _Could I sound any more awkward?_

"Yep, that's me - amazon_hacker," the woman replied, a slow grin spreading across her face. "It's nice to meet you, Tara. I'm Faith." She extended a hand, which Tara shook awkwardly.

Faith held Tara's hand for a fraction of a second longer than was strictly necessary, and released it.

"Wow, after all this time," Faith said. She removed the purple kitten pin from her shirt and stuck it into the pocket of her jeans. "Let's go get some lunch. There's a great sushi place nearby." She checked her watch. "We'll have plenty of time before two o'clock."

"S-sure," Tara answered, and they walked toward the exit. She's not quite what I was expecting. _Somehow she never struck me as the type to wear all black, or bright red lipstick. But appearances aren't really that important. At least the suspense is over._

* * *

Willow sprinted into the exhibit hall, out of breath. _Okay, it's only 12:05, I'm not that late_. Taped to her shirt was a hastily cut-out piece of paper shaped like a cat that was colored in with a purple marker. She scanned the room desperately, trying to spot someone who looked like they were waiting for someone else.

Willow didn't see anyone who was alone, but she began to make a circuit of the room. She walked slowly, scanning faces, giving people a chance to see the kitten on her shirt. All she received in return were some odd looks.

The minutes passed. Willow kept walking around the exhibit center, biting her lip, not wanting to acknowledge what she was gradually coming to believe.

wiccanbard wasn't there.


	7. Disappointment

**Private Message**

**From: ** amazon_hacker

**To: ** wiccanbard

**Sat, Jul 16, 2005 1:02 pm**

Hey. I know you said you weren't bringing a laptop to the con, but on the off chance that you use somebody else's computer, I just wanted to leave a message to ask how come you didn't show up today. Or maybe you did and you thought I wasn't coming? I was about five minutes late. If you thought I was blowing you off, I'm so, so sorry. I wasn't.

Anyway. Let me know what happened. I'd still like to meet you. If you get this and you're still at the con, you can ask the front desk to connect you to Xander Harris' room or leave a message for Willow Rosenberg. That's me (Willow). No tree jokes please.

amazon_hacker

* * *

Tara walked into the "Character Development 101 - How Close to Canon?" workshop and looked for Anya. She spotted her friend paging through a magazine and walked across the room to join her. The workshop hadn't begun yet, so they had a few minutes to chat.

"Well? How was it? What was she like? Are you in love?" Anya asked.

Tara bit her lip. "It was...not quite what I was expecting. She's very different in person than I thought she would be."

"Different how?"

"Well, in a lot of ways. She's got a quirky sense of humor online, and goes off on a lot of tangents and babbles. But in person, at lunch, her sense of humor didn't really come across. She was - well, not more reserved, because she didn't seem shy or anything. But she didn't babble as much as I would have expected from chatting with her all this time."

"Maybe she was nervous?" Anya offered.

"She said she was nervous, but it didn't really come through. She seemed pretty confident. More than confident. A little bit...arrogant, actually."

"Did she say arrogant things?"

"Well, sort of, but not exactly. I guess I think that because of the way she sat, and carried herself. She was dressed in all black and sort of swaggers when she walks."

Anya considered this. "If she's really a computer hacker, then maybe she's sort of a dangerous character, you know? Maybe she dresses the part."

Tara sighed. "Maybe." She shook her head. "I don't know, An. It just felt...weird. It wasn't at all like I was expecting or hoping it to be."

"What were you expecting?"

"Oh, you know. I expected to feel comfortable with her. I thought we'd laugh and joke and talk about fan fiction and get to know each other. I wondered - I hoped, really - that I'd be attracted to her, the way I feel with her online. But it just wasn't that way."

Anya offered Tara a sympathetic smile. "Well, I hope that at least the food was good."

Tara gave her a wry grin. "It was sushi."

"So you'll try sushi when it's the amazon_hacker taking you out, but not with me, huh? I see how it is," Anya teased. "Did you like it?"

"Well, sort of. I think it must be an acquired taste. That was part of the whole weird feeling I got from her, actually. When she said let's go to lunch, she just said there was a great sushi place nearby, and didn't even ask what I thought. And when we sat down, she ordered for us, without asking. I went along with it, because honestly, I was too surprised to say anything."

"You know what it sounds like to me," Anya said. "Either she's totally inconsiderate, which is very possible, or she was really nervous, and trying to hide behind some kind of bravado facade."

"Yeah," Tara said. "I can't quite figure it out. Anyway, I agreed to go with her to the dance tonight. I figured that I owed it to myself, and to this investment of three months of chatting to give her another chance, and not to throw it all away just because of a bad first impression."

Anya nodded. "I think that's wise. Of all people, I trust you to listen to your heart. Did you feel any spark with her at all?"

Tara shook her head. "Not really. I mean, she's attractive, don't get me wrong. But I didn't feel, you know, like I wanted to kiss her or anything."

"What did you guys talk about?"

At that moment, the workshop leader interrupted their conversation to begin the workshop. The discussion was to be about character development in uber fic and how to ensure that uber characters still were true to their canon roots in terms of their qualities and characteristics.

Tara found it hard to concentrate on the presentation, still somewhat thrown from her wildly divergent expectations and the reality of meeting amazon_hacker.

* * *

Faith led the way into the sushi restaurant. The hostess smiled and said to them "Will it be two for lunch today?"

Faith nodded. "Can we get a private table for two?"

The hostess smiled. "Follow me, please."

She led them through a sleekly modern dining room hung with ferns, to a small table in the back. She laid their menus on the table, said "Your server will be right with you," and gracefully retreated.

Faith pulled out a chair and looked at Tara. Tara looked back uncomprehendingly. _Oh, she's pulling out my chair for me. Is she being polite, or butch?_ Tara moved toward the proffered chair, and Faith smoothly slid it in as Tara sat. _Open mind, Tara, open mind._

Faith sat herself and picked up the menu. "I think we should get the Executive Lunch for Two," she declared, after a brief glance through the restaurant's offerings and lunch. "A little something of everything - variety is the spice of life and all." She gave Tara a significant glance across the top of her water glass as she lifted the drink to her lips, leaving a red lipstick mark on the glass.

Tara shifted in her seat and half-heartedly returned the smile. She had barely looked at the menu, but thought she wouldn't know what to order anyway. However, she felt uncomfortable asking, and decided to let Faith take the lead.

"Okay, sure."

Faith grinned at her and placed their order with the waiter.

"Um...so are you e-enjoying the convention so far?" Tara asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Faith replied. "A bunch of people who like Xena all in one place, hanging out, what could be better? Of course, it's a lot better now."

"Yeah, um - how is your new story coming along?" Tara deftly changed the subject.

"Oh, fine, fine," Faith said breezily. "I've got quite a bit of it written, but I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much. I'm more interested in hearing about what you're working on."

"Well, it was going okay at first, but now I'm a little stuck," Tara replied. "I just...can't figure out what I want to happen next." _My characters meet each other on a message board, and then meet up in person, and then...one of them runs away screaming? Not a happy ending._

"Writer's block," Faith sympathized. "It blows. I had that with _Guardians of the Firewall_."

"Yeah, I remember."

"So, were you as nervous as I was about this?" Faith asked Tara, with a wide-eyed look.

Tara relaxed a little. _So she was nervous? She must hide it well._ "Um, yeah - I was pretty anxious, actually."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, because I was petrified. I couldn't sleep last night."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah." Faith winked. "Listen, I'll be right back. Gotta visit the little girls' room."

Tara nodded and sat back into her chair as Faith walked away. She sighed. _Okay, Tara, you can get through this. People don't always hit it off right away. These things take time._

While Faith was still in the restroom, the waiter brought out the Executive Lunch for Two and set it on the table. Tara looked helplessly at the array of raw fish, raw shrimp, raw crab, and _what is that? Squid? Octopus?_ that was arranged on the wooden platform.

"Does Mademoiselle require anything else?" the waiter asked.

_A ham sandwich._ "No, thank you," Tara replied.

Faith returned to the table. "Oh good, it's here," she said, picking up her chopsticks. She grabbed a chunk of wasabi and mixed it up with soy sauce in a little dish. Tara watched closely, and followed her lead.

"Have you ever had sushi before?" Faith asked. Tara shook her head.

"Why don't you start with a cucumber roll?" Faith suggested. She motioned to a small cylinder of rice with cucumber in the middle. Tara concentrated, and managed to pick up the cucumber roll. She dipped it in the soy sauce/wasabi mix, and put it in her mouth.

Her eyes flew open and she coughed. She reached for her water glass, and drained half of it at a gulp, trying to wash down the food and dilute the wasabi.

Faith stood up and came around to Tara's side of the table. "Are you okay?" She rubbed Tara's back and offered her own water glass.

Tara smiled weakly and coughed again. Her eyes watered, and she wiped them with her napkin.

"I think I should avoid the wasabi." Faith gave Tara's back a final, lingering pat and returned to her own seat.

* * *

For the rest of the lunch, Tara had focused on not dropping the chunks of sushi with the unfamiliar chopsticks, and on not gagging when she ate the raw fish. It wasn't so much the taste as the texture of the food, and she was already nervous and on edge. Avoiding the wasabi for the rest of the meal helped.

Tara wasn't used to talking about herself so much, but Faith had drawn her out, asking questions and follow-up questions. Looking back on it, she didn't really feel like it had been a two-way street - other than her physical appearance, Tara felt like she didn't know much more about Faith now than what she did from their online chats.

_Whatever. Obsessing over this right now isn't going to make it any different. I should pay attention._ Tara tried to put lunch out of her mind and focused on what the workshop leader was saying.

"It's especially important in uber fan fiction to pay close attention to character development," the workshop leader said. Her British accent seemed to enthrall the attendees. "While your setting and conflict don't necessarily need to parallel the TV show's plot, the basic character traits should remain the same. For example, a character who is organized and anal-retentive on a TV show should remain so in your fiction. You can't have him or her conveniently 'forgetting' things, or being a scatterbrain to make your story flow more easily. Too much deviation from the core elements of the character and your story won't ring true."

_That is totally true,_ Tara thought to herself. _Not to mention that too much deviation from how someone appears online and their real-life personality can also throw people for a loop._

* * *

Buffy checked her watch. "Where is she?" she said to Xander. "It's 5:15 and we were supposed to meet here 15 minutes ago for dinner. It's not like Willow to be late."

Xander shrugged. "Maybe she and the girl she was meeting really hit it off and they decided to get dinner together?"

"That's not like her - even if she did decide to do that, she would have called us or left a message." Buffy dialed Willow's cell phone again. "It's just going straight to voicemail. I'm worried, Xander."

"Well, my cell phone doesn't get great reception inside the hotel. Maybe hers doesn't either and she couldn't leave us a message," Xander said. "Maybe she wrote us a note and left it in our room?"

Buffy sighed. "Well, let's go up and check."

They wound their way through the crowds in the lobby to the elevator and took it to their floor. Buffy dug in her pocket for the key card, and inserted it into the door lock.

A scene of chaos greeted them. The room appeared to have been ransacked, although it was hard to see all the details since the curtains were drawn tight. Willow's suitcase was emptied out on the floor, and clothes were strewn everywhere. The desk and nightstand had been pulled out from the walls. The bedclothes were a mess, both beds' sheets and comforters pulled out and tossed in a untidy piles on top of the beds. A large pile of crumpled tissues was on the floor next to Willow and Buffy's bed.

"Xander, we've been robbed!" Buffy shouted.

"Either that or the maid service really leaves something to be desired," Xander said. He walked further into the room and flipped on the light switch.

The pile of bedclothes on Willow and Buffy's shared bed stirred. A hand appeared from under the pile and grabbed a pillow, which then disappeared along with the hand.

"Oh my god, Willow!" Buffy said. "Are you okay? Are you hiding? We've been robbed; did you see who did this?" She walked to the bed and threw off the sheets to reveal a very red-eyed Willow with wildly sticking-up hair, clutching a near-empty box of tissues.

Willow blinked in the bright light. "We haven't been robbed," she said. "It was me."

Xander picked up a crumpled piece of paper off the floor and smoothed it out. It was Willow's copy of the convention schedule for Saturday. "Oh, man. What happened, Will?"

Willow blew her nose and sniffed. "It-it was 11:45, and I checked my bag for my pin, and it was GONE. I thought for sure that it had to be somewhere in here, so I ran up to look, but it wasn't anywhere. So I made a substitute pin, and got to the exhibit hall at 12:05, but she wasn't there." Tears ran down her cheeks.

Buffy sat on the bed next to Willow and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Are you sure she wasn't there? Maybe she left early, or chickened out."

Willow sniffed. "Or maybe she saw me and decided that she didn't want to meet me after all. Maybe she thinks I'm ugly!"

"Now that's crazy, Will. You're a beautiful, smart, funny person and anyone who is lucky enough to get to meet you would see that right off the bat," Buffy said.

"Yeah," Xander said. "Unless they're a Martian. Or totally stupid. Or a totally stupid Martian."

Willow favored him with a small smile.

Buffy rubbed Willow's back. "I'm sure it was just some totally innocent and understandable mix-up."

"But Buffy, what if it wasn't? What if she got there at noon on the dot, and I wasn't there, and she thought I was blowing her off? What if she's mad at me and will never agree to meet me again?" Willow's lip quivered.

"Listen, if she did leave and thought you were blowing her off, you can just explain what happened in a private message or in chat. And if she doesn't understand, then...well, that's silly. Five minutes isn't even late." Buffy's habitual tardiness was well understood and accepted by her friends, and in return she never expected anyone else to be on time.

Xander said "Well, it's the dinner break now. Some food will help you to feel better, especially if you missed lunch. Then the fanfic reading is at 7pm and the dance is at 8."

Willow burrowed deeper into the sheets. "I'm not going."

Buffy and Xander exchanged glances. "All right, this calls for some drastic measures, young lady," Buffy said. "First, we're going to order pizza and we'll have dinner here in the room."

"Pizza is good."

"Then, you are going to the fanfic reading. If not for yourself, then for Xander. Tonight he's going to read."

Willow considered this, and nodded. "I'll go to support Xander. But I'm not going to the dance. I'm too depressed."

Buffy said "Ah, that's where part three of my nefarious plan comes into play. I think tonight you need a special kind of strength, and to have your warrior spirit. So we're going to call on Xena to help you."

Curiosity battled with Willow's misery. Finally curiosity won out. "Okay, Buffy. If anyone can think of a way to help me, it's Xena."

Xander dialed the phone. "What do you want on your pizza, guys?"


	8. Xena to the Rescue

Subject: Re: Guardians of the Firewall Part 7

Date: March 17, 2005

**amazon_hacker:** Hi everyone! I'm sorry this isn't an update. I know it's been two weeks since the last update; I wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about this story. I'm having a little writer's block, and it's the first time I've experienced this before - I can't figure out what's next for Gabrielle and Xena. But I'm trying to work through it and I'm hoping to have an update posted by the end of the month.

Thanks for sticking with this story and for all your great feedback!

**xenarulz: ** best wishes for getting rid of that writer's block ASAP! If I could I'd kick it into submission for you.

**wiccanbard: ** writer's block is hard, i wish you the best in overcoming it

**joxx: ** kick that writer's block in the butt.

**5by5: ** nooo, I neeeeeeeeeeed an update! this story rules.

**aphrodite: ** whenever I have writer's block, I find that a little extracurricular activity, usually mind-blowing orgasms, often helps me in overcoming it. Maybe something similar would help you.

**amazon_hacker: ** ummm, I doubt it in this case but thanks for the suggestion!

**aphrodite: ** LOL, I didn't mean the orgasms for you, although do give it a try! The endorphin and dopamine rush afterward can help you approach a story with a clearer head. But what I meant in this case was if you hacked into some database, got around the security settings, tried to evade detection, you might find yourself with a whole lot of ideas.

**cordy_princess: ** or being prosecuted. No criminal solicitation on the Warrior board, please!

**5by5: ** if you're looking for inspiration I have some ideas for what Gabby and X could do next... :)

* * *

The second night of fan fiction reading was almost as crowded as the first. "Lucky this only lasts for an hour tonight or else I might have an attack of claustrophobia," Willow whispered to Buffy.

Buffy nodded her agreement. The two were sitting on a loveseat, with Xander perched on one of the arms. Xander clutched a packet of papers in his hand and cleared his throat. He shifted his position, and wiped his palms on his jeans.

Buffy and Xander's encouragement and constant attempts to cheer her up over pizza had lifted Willow out of the self-recriminating depression she had slipped into, though she was not her usual cheerful self. When she thought about that afternoon, she still felt like crying, but she had stopped actually bursting into tears. However, being around so many people was making her feel vulnerable. Buffy looked over at her and instantly snaked an arm around Willow's shoulders, providing a much-needed comforting touch.

Cordelia raised her voice to the room. "Okay, everyone, we're going to get started with our second night of all fan fiction, all the time. Tonight's session will be just one hour to give you all time to get ready for the dance tonight. And our first reader tonight will be Xander Harris."

Xander stood up and walked to the front of the room. Eyes down, he said "Hi folks. I'm joxx on the Warrior Board." His voice shook a little, but he cleared his throat and began to read.

"Joxer sprinted down the forest path with the assassin close on his heels. The strain of the run was beginning to wear on his muscles, but he pushed on. He knew that if he broke through the initial pain, his body would adjust to the exertion and he could keep up the pace indefinitely.

"Only one thought was on his mind - reaching the priestess of Athena's temple before sundown so she could reverse the enchantment. The assassin was too close for comfort, however - he'd have to deal with him first.

"He assessed the terrain that lay ahead. There - there it was, a low-hanging branch. He increased his speed slightly, his calf muscles screaming in protest. Three, two one - and plant the right foot, bend the knees, and thrust upward with both legs.

"'Ay yi yi yi yi!' The war cry tore free from his lips inadvertently as he sailed through the air, somersaulting to land on the tree branch overhead.

"The assassin skidded to a halt underneath the branch, looking upward in surprise. Joxer didn't allow him time to react - he leapt down, spinning in the air so his foot connected in a roundhouse kick with the man's temple.

"_Thud._ The assassin slumped to the ground. Joxer's steel-toed boots had provided the extra mass needed to knock the man out. Joxer narrowed his eyes - killing the man in cold blood didn't appeal to him. 'But I can't have you following me, either,' he said.

"He looped a length of rope around the man's wrists and ankle, securing a tight knot with one end of the rope, and lashing the other end to a tree trunk with a slipknot. 'That'll hold you for long enough till I can get Athena to switch me and Xena back - and then she can deal with you.' he told the unconscious form.

Willow looked around the room, noticing with satisfaction that most of the people seemed to be engrossed in Xander's story. Xander's stories featured Joxer as the protagonist, which wasn't always popular on the Warrior Board. Many fans of the show viewed Joxer's character as comic relief at best, and as an annoyance at worse. Willow had helped Xander with the premise for this story - Athena had exchanged Joxer and Xena's fighting skills and personality traits, hoping they would both gain some wisdom about each other, and maybe some understanding - knowing that this scenario would intrinsically be more interesting to the audience at the convention. And from the looks on the faces of the people in the room, she had been right.

"Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Gabrielle had her hands full with Xena.

"'C'mon, Gabby, sing it with me.'

"'Xena, no.'

"'C'mon, just one more time. She's Xena the mighty, her breastplate is tight-y, everybody loves her, and even you must concur...'

"Gabrielle sighed in exasperation, her hands on her hips. 'Xena, how many times do I have to tell you, we have to keep quiet here. You're not yourself, and the forest is full of outlaws, and I can't fight them all off and keep you safe at the same time. We are hiding.'

"Xena's eyes sparkled. 'I can fight them!' She reached around and took her sword from its scabbard, swinging it in a wide arc and narrowly missing Gabrielle's head. She struck a pose. 'Just bring them on!'

"Gabrielle reached for Xena's sword and took it out of her hands. 'Just come over here and sit with me a while, okay?' she said. 'I'll tell you a story while we wait for Joxer to come back.'

Willow's gaze traveled around the room and lit on the blonde girl - Tara - that she had met last night in the coffee shop last night. At yesterday's fan fiction reading, Tara had been in the company of aphrodite - Anya, that was her name, the girl that Xander had met. Tonight she was sitting next to Anya, but there was a new girl on Tara's other side.

Willow looked at the girl sitting next to Tara. She was dressed entirely in black, in jeans and a pullover. Her expression was neutral, but Willow thought she detected a hint of impatience. _Guess some people won't like a story with Joxer in it no matter what._ She sat close to Tara, resting her head on her right hand, with her elbow up on the back of the couch they sat on. The effect was that she was leaning close to Tara without actually having her arm around the girl. As Willow watched, the dark girl's eyes flicked over Tara's profile and briefly downward before settling back on Xander. _She just totally looked down her shirt._ Willow felt a surge of indignation.

Tara herself sat ramrod straight, not leaning toward her dark-haired companion, but not leaning away, either. She seemed unaware of her neighbor's visual intrusion, paying close attention to Xander's story instead. _At least there's one person over there that can recognize a good story when she hears it._

Tara looked up, and caught Willow's glance. Caught again! Unlike last night, however, she didn't look away, but instead gave Tara a tiny smile, which Tara returned.

The dark girl sitting next to Tara caught the motion, and looked over at Willow. Annoyed, she shifted her body so she was sitting even closer to Tara. Tara hugged her arms around her torso at her companion's motion, and gave her attention back to Xander's story.

_Looks like everyone's found someone but me,_ Willow thought sadly. _And Buffy._ She was extra-glad of her friend's comforting arm around her, and she rested her head on Buffy's shoulder, suddenly weary.

Tara shifted slightly on the couch, trying to put a little more distance between herself and Faith without being obvious. She didn't have much room - three more inches and she'd be sitting in Anya's lap. Not normally claustrophobic, Tara felt hyper-aware of her body and its proximity to Faith's. Faith was slouching and leaning on the couch, which meant she took up more space than was strictly necessary, and put her closer to Tara as a result. Tara couldn't decide if it was deliberate or accidental.

At lunch, Tara had agreed to attend the dance tonight with Faith, but they hadn't made any solid plans to meet beforehand. But when Faith entered the Sunset Lounge, she had made a beeline for the empty space on the couch beside Tara, to her chagrin.

It wasn't that Tara was opposed to sitting next to Faith - it was more that she would have preferred to have had more time to mull things over and to psych herself up for the dance tonight. Faith wasn't unpleasant to be around - there were just several things that were nagging at the corners of Tara's mind about their lunch and their interactions and she didn't feel like she'd had much mental space to process them with the constant activity of the convention.

Speaking of which, she was enjoying Xander's story tonight. She occasionally read the stories that joxx posted on the Warrior Board, although she normally preferred stories that featured Xena and Gabrielle as more central characters. But she had noticed that the Joxer in joxx's stories seemed a little deeper than the canon character - mostly because Xander filled in a great deal of Joxer's backstory and inner monologue.

And tonight's story was a cut above. The conflict was that Athena, tired of Xena and Joxer's constant bickering, had switched their personality traits and fighting skills with each other. By living a day in each other's shoes, so to speak, the idea was that the warrior and the warrior-wannabe would understand each other better. The catch was that one of them would have to reach a priestess of Athena's temple before sundown, or else the switch would be permanent.

Xander was in the middle of describing Joxer's defeat of a group of brigands who tried to waylay him, and the cut back to another scene of comic relief with Xena and Gabrielle. Tara glanced at Anya, sitting on her right, who was absorbed in the story. She had a proud smile on her face as well. Tara cracked a smile of her own, happy that Anya appeared to have found someone that she was truly interested in for himself and not just as a warm body.

She looked again at Willow, sitting across the room. Last night their tea had been relaxed and easy. Though their conversation had been short, Tara had simultaneously felt comfortable talking to her, and had had butterflies in her stomach the whole time. _That's what I thought I would feel like with Faith - with amazon_hacker - but I don't._

The girl sitting with Willow had her arm around the redhead, and Willow was resting her head on her shoulder. Tara felt a twinge of jealousy. _Although I suppose I have no right - I'm sitting here with the long-awaited and much-anticipated amazon_hacker. Who is nothing like I expected._ Tara let out a tiny sigh. Faith gave her a questioning glance, and Tara shook her head and gave her a smile that she hoped didn't look as fake as it felt.

_So I got what I wanted, and I'm not even sure if I want it anymore. What if what I want is sitting on the other side of the room with her girlfriend?_

* * *

She reached down to secure the buckle on her boot, and tugged it up more fully around her calf. She made sure the chakram was snug at her side, and then reached for the strap that fastened her breastplate over the shoulder. Satisfied that everything was in place, she held the sword above her head in a fierce pose.

"Your courage will change the world," Buffy said.

Willow lowered the sword. "I dunno, Buffy. It's very nice of you to loan me your costume - I mean, hello, look at these!" She indicated her bosom, which appeared larger than ever before thanks to the breastplate. "But honestly, I think I'd rather just stay in the room tonight."

"That's exactly why you're wearing my costume, Will. You need the strength of a warrior tonight."

"But my Ephiny costume is a warrior costume."

Buffy nodded. She was wearing Willow's costume, and it was indeed a warrior's costume. She had on a leather skirt and halter top, and had donned the matching Amazon headdress.

"True. But two things - first, I kind of thought with the way you're feeling tonight, you might not want to be this exposed." Buffy indicated her bare midriff and the expanse of her upper torso, only marginally covered by the skimpy halter top. "And second, Xena is a strong and powerful warrior. Some say with magical powers. Some people even think she's half-god."

Buffy smiled. "I thought you could use a little of that tonight. But we can totally change back - whatever you want, Will."

Willow impulsively hugged Buffy. "You are a great friend, you know that? No, I'm totally wearing this costume."

"Now to _really_ get empowered, do the warrior cry with me."

"I think I'll pass, Buff."

"No, seriously! I learned how to really use my diaphragm at the workshop today, and it's so much better. Louder, too. Give it a try. C'mon, we'll do it together."

Buffy drew a deep breath and let out an _"Ay yi yi yi yi yi yi yi yi!"_ Willow joined in halfheartedly.

"One more time - and you have to try."

Willow assented, and drew in a deep breath of her own. The two friends both let out a loud _"Ay yi yi yi yi yi yi yi yi!"_ The echoes seemed to reverberate in the room. Willow and Buffy burst out laughing together - the first real laugh Willow had had all day.

"Is Xander meeting us here or downstairs?" Willow asked.

"He'll meet us at the dance after he goes and picks up Anya," Buffy replied. "You ready?"

Willow exhaled. "Yep."

Buffy took Willow's arm in hers and together they left the room on their way to the dance.


	9. Who Are You?

Tara adjusted the bodice of her blouse and viewed the results in the mirror. The blue of the shirt contrasted nicely with the rust color of the long skirt she wore. She tugged the collar higher, and then turned around to see how it looked from the back. The material was thin linen and clung gently to the curves of her breasts and waist. With the front of her shirt pulled up so far, the back hung down baggily.

"That blouse is made to sit lower on your chest, Tare," Anya said, entering the hotel bathroom. "It's not a crewneck."

"I know," Tara answered, and sighed. She readjusted the blouse so it fell normally over her torso, exposing an expanse of skin around her collarbones and upper chest. Her blouse was not daring - it was even a little conservative by many people's standards. She fiddled with the string that laced up the neck of the blouse, and retied it so it was more securely closed.

"So what are you going for with this costume? Season one Gabrielle, or schoolmarm?" Anya asked, eyeing the double knot.

Tara shot her a rueful look. "I know. I would have thought that tonight, of all nights, I'd want to look different from how I normally do. I mean, a little more...attractive."

"Sweetie, you don't need to look different from how you usually do to look attractive. No, really," Anya said in response to Tara's dubious look. "All you have to do is to be yourself. Confidence is the biggest turn-on."

"But that's the problem," Tara said. "I don't really want to turn anyone on tonight. The only person I want to come home with tonight is you."

Anya looked at Tara through lowered lashes. "Why, Ms. Maclay. I didn't know you cared."

Tara cracked a smile, momentarily erasing the lines of worry around her mouth and eyes. "In an I'm-sharing-my-hotel-room-with-you sense, not an I-want-to-bed-you sense, thank you very much."

"Much to my chagrin, and yours too if you knew what you were missing," Anya retorted playfully. She turned to the mirror and carefully applied eyeliner to the bottoms of her eyes.

"Not too much," Tara said. "They always wear too much on the show."

"I know," Anya said. "But Alex never does." She finished touching up her eyeliner, and surveyed her reflection. "Gorgeous."

Tara laughed. "One thing no one will ever accuse you of is false modesty."

"I'm just honest," said Anya.

"I can't believe you're going to wear that in public," Tara said. "You can see right through it!"

"That's the point," Anya said. She twirled around in a circle, and her sheer pink nightgown flared out. The material was see-through, and showcased the pink panties and matching bra she wore. Her stomach and thighs were clearly visible through the nightgown. "As the pre-eminent smut writer on the Warrior board, and with my handle being Aphrodite, it's expected that I'll dress like this. I can't disappoint my fans. Plus, I won't be nineteen forever. I always say, when you've got it, flaunt it."

"Well, you've got it," Tara said. "Xander's going to faint when he sees you."

Anya smiled at the mention of his name. "He's a sweet boy." She left the bathroom. "Now where did I put my slippers?"

Tara gave herself one last look in the mirror. She had pulled her hair back on the sides and fastened it on top with a clip. She hesitated, and then removed the clip. Her hair fell down around her face and neck, partially covering her exposed collarbones. She turned off the light and left the bathroom.

Anya was looking through her suitcase. "I know I brought those slippers; now where the heck are they?"

Tara walked over to the closet and reached in the back, producing a pair of high-heeled open-toed slippers with a fuzzy pink fringe on the top of the shoe. "You unpacked them yesterday," she said, handing the shoes to Anya.

"Thanks," Anya told her. She looked at Tara's hair. "Hey, that's not canon. Gabrielle had her hair up for most of Season 1."

"I know," said Tara, looking down. "I just thought I'd be more comfortable with it down."

Anya sat down on the bed to pull on her shoes. "You're really not looking forward to this dance tonight, are you? Like, not even a little bit."

Tara sighed. "Not really. Honestly, I'd rather stay in the room. Do you think it's too late to say I have a stomachache?"

"It's never too late," Anya said. "But do you think you'll feel any better if you stay up here alone all night?"

"Well, no."

"Why don't you just tell her you're not interested and leave it at that, then?"

Tara bit her lip as she considered the idea. "Well, I guess I could. But it's not that simple."

"What's not simple about it? No chemistry, no relationship, and thus no Sapphic kisses in the broom closet."

"Who said anything about a broom closet?" She sighed. "It's just that we've been chatting for so long now, every day, and even though I'm not feeling, you know, the chemistry right now, that doesn't mean that I won't eventually, right? And even if it doesn't end up in a relationship, I really value her friendship. The person I got to know over the internet is an interesting, funny, warm person - and I keep thinking, what if she's just having a bad weekend, or something. I feel like I owe it to her - and to myself - to give her a chance."

Anya stood up and walked over to where Tara sat, and took her roommate's hands. "Listen, I may not be the actual Goddess of Love, but even I can tell you this: if you're this unsure, it's probably not right."

Tara nodded. "I know, you're right, but..."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Anya held Tara's gaze for a moment longer, and then stood to go open the door.

Anya opened the door to reveal Xander standing in the hallway. He wore a warrior costume, the most prominent feature of which was a circle of metal on his chest that appeared to have been cobbled together out of a flattened vegetable steamer. On his head he wore a pointy woven hat with makeshift earflaps.

"Well come in, Xander - don't just stand there," Anya told him.

He stayed firmly rooted in place, eyes firmly rooted on Anya's see-through costume. "Uh..." he said.

Anya rolled her eyes, but also had a pleased smile on her face. She reached out, took his arm, and pulled him through the doorway.

"This is my friend Tara," Anya said by way of introduction. "Tara, this is Xander."

"Pleased to meet you," Tara said.

Xander shook his head. "Pleased! Meet! You too!" He cleared his throat. "Very nice to meet you, Tara. Sorry about that - my brain seems to have taken momentary leave of my body."

Tara nodded, a hint of mirth playing about the corners of her mouth. "That tends to happen to people around Anya. With that costume tonight, you're going to have to beat them off with a...stick."

Anya dimpled at this. "I don't think I'm going to let Xander beat anyone off tonight, so to speak," she said, coming to her embarrassed date's rescue. "We'll just keep the self-lovin' for the fan fiction."

"I really enjoyed your story tonight," Tara said, finished with her teasing. "It would have made a good episode."

"Thank you," Xander replied. "I had help. My friend Willow thought of the concept, and spent time talking things through with me. She also did the beta work."

"Oh, Willow!" Tara said. "I've met her. She's very nice."

"Yeah, good ol' Will," Xander said. "She and Buffy should be down at the dance any minute now."

"Is Buffy the girl she was sitting next to tonight?"

"Yep, that's Buff. We're all staying together."

"Three people in one room would be a little much for me," Anya said. "I need my privacy."

"Yes, you sure needed your privacy last night," Tara said innocently.

"They're both in college, so we're trying to save a few bucks by tripling up," Xander said with a deep blush. "It's working out okay."

Tara nodded. _Except for the snoring, according to Willow, but maybe that was just a one-time thing._

"So Tara, do you want us to wait for you?" Anya asked.

Tara shook her head. "You guys go ahead. Faith seems to be running late, so there's no telling how long you'd have to wait. I'll be down soon enough."

Anya reached over and gave Tara a quick hug. "Hang in there," she whispered in Tara's ear. She turned and clasped Xander's arm as they left the room.

"Nice meeting you, Tara!" Xander said over his shoulder as they left.

Tara cast around the room for something to take her mind off the impending evening after left, but it turned out that she didn't have long to wait. Just a couple of minutes later, there was another knock at the door. She crossed the room and opened the door.

Faith stood there, dressed in black leather. Her outfit showcased her cleavage to the fullest extent, and she wore a short skirt to match. A portion of the tops of her breasts peeked out from a split in the leather of the bodice. She was still wearing her red lipstick, though a slightly darker shade than she had worn during the day.

Tara studied her outfit curiously. "Callisto?" she asked.

Faith nodded as she strode into the room and surveyed the surroundings. "Nice digs ya got here."

"Oh, is your room different than this one?"

Faith laughed. "No, I was just kidding. It's exactly the same. I'll show it to you later, if you want." There was a trace of suggestion in her comment.

Tara avoided answering the question. "I would have thought you'd be dressed as Ephiny or Melosa, or one of the other Amazons."

An even smile spread across Faith's face. "I just felt like mixin' it up tonight. I'm into trying new things lately. Variety being the spice of life and all."

Tara didn't have a response. "Well, I guess we should get going." She scooped up her room key from the table and they left the hotel room.

* * *

Even though they arrived just ten minutes after the dance was supposed to start, it was already in full swing by the time Willow and Buffy walked in.

Music was thumping and the ballroom was dark. The dance floor was crowded with several people grooving to the beat of something which sounded like a Madonna remix. Leather was everywhere, and metal glinted off the reflections that the strobe light cast.

"So much for being fashionably late," Buffy remarked.

Willow smiled. "Buffy, we're at a Xena convention, and about a 90% of the people here are dressed in a costume of some sort from the show. Mostly fake armor that doesn't actually do anything to protect a person's body if they were really in a swordfight. I think it's safe to say that fashion has gone out the window."

Buffy laughed as she conceded the point. "It's kind of refreshing, isn't it?"

Willow looked around the room. "Yes, it is. Everyone seems to be having fun, and not overly concerned about what other people think about them."

Buffy pointed to a buffet set up along the side of the ballroom. "Ooh, punch!"

She and Willow walked over to the punch bowl and poured themselves a couple of glasses. Willow surveyed the room as she sipped her punch.

"What are you looking at?" Buffy asked.

"So far I've counted 27 Xenas, 19 Gabrielles, 15 Amazons of indeterminate origin, 12 Callistos, 10 Ares, and 5 unidentifiables. And that's just the people I can see from here."

"Show me one of the unidentifiables."

Willow pointed to a person several feet away. "See what I mean?"

"Totally. What's your best guess?"

"Well, the leather skirt makes it seem like a warrior woman of some sort. But I've never seen any of them wear a shirt quite like that. And what is that thing on her head? Hard to say."

"Oh, look! There's a Season 1 Gabrielle! You don't see many of those anymore - everyone wants to show a little skin." Buffy pointed to the ballroom doors.

Willow looked across the room and saw Tara standing there with the girl she had been sitting next to at the fan fiction reading that night. "I know her. That's Tara. I met her last night in the coffee shop."

"What were you doing in the coffee shop?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep," Willow said. "Someone in our room was snoring."

Buffy gave her a rueful look. "Sorry, Will. Dawn says I could wake the dead with my snores."

"And I wasn't even mildly stunned." Willow laughed. "Don't worry about it - if you hadn't been keeping me awake, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet Tara. And she's about the coolest person I've met so far here."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Cool, huh?"

Willow reddened slightly. "We had a nice chat."

"I think someone has a bit of a crush! Why don't you go talk to her? You can forget about...you know, and get your mind off things."

"Well, maybe. But she's with someone, see?"

Buffy squinted. "Whoa."

"I know. What a cleavage-y slut-bomb, huh?"

"Well, it's hard to say without talking to her, but her outfit sure is revealing. Although I guess mine - yours - is too."

"True," Willow said, with a glance at Buffy's exposed torso and legs. "But it's different somehow. I think the way you carry yourself - something about body language."

Buffy leaned against the table as she continued to observe Faith with Tara. "I think I see what you mean. She seems very...proprietary."

"Yeah. Well anyway, I don't know if I'm up for trying to get in between someone like that and her girl tonight. Even on my best day that's not really my style. If I even have a style. Oh, let's face it, Buffy - I don't have a style."

"Willow, that's one of the greatest things about you - you're just yourself, no games. What you see is what you get."

"WYSIWYG!" Willow said, grinning. She pronounced it "Wizzy-wig."

"Huh?"

"It's a web acronym that describes a type of HTML editor. What you see is what you get. WYSIWYG. You must have computer genius lurking just below the surface."

Buffy gave Willow an affectionate, but uncomprehending look. "Lurking pretty far below the surface, since I didn't even understand that first sentence. What I do have lurking AT the surface right now is a strong desire to dance. Dance with me?"

Willow demurred. "I don't know if I'm up for dancing yet. Would you be crushed if I sat this one out?"

"No problem, I don't mind dancing alone."

"Did someone say dance?" an unfamiliar, low voice spoke behind Buffy.

Buffy turned. There stood a tall, muscular man with brown hair and deep brown eyes. He stood several inches taller than Buffy, clad in leather pants and a nondescript black top with two leather straps criss-crossing his chest. Any menacing effect, however, was more than mitigated by the two large wings affixed to his back where the straps crossed his shoulder blades. When he moved, the wings moved with him, spanning a distance of about four feet above his shoulders, white feathers fluttering.

Buffy smiled. "Cupid, I presume?"

The man smiled. "My name's Angel - and yes, I'm Cupid. I didn't mean to eavesdrop - I just came over for some punch and couldn't help but overhear."

"Your name is Angel and you're dressed like Cupid?"

Angel smiled. "It's a family name. It was either this costume or Ares, and I'm not the brooding type. I'm a lover, not a fighter."

Buffy laughed. "I think you chose this costume just so you could make cheesy jokes about it."

"Maybe." He smiled at her, and then turned to Willow, who stood watching the scene with amusement. "Hi, I'm Angel."

"Willow," she replied, shaking his hand.

"Would you both like to dance?" he inquired. "I love this song - Nerfherder is the best."

Willow exchanged a glance with Buffy. "Actually, my friend Xander just walked in, so I'm going to go say hello. But you two go ahead!"

Buffy turned around and grinned at Willow as she followed Angel onto the dance floor.

Willow had actually seen Xander come in some time ago - with Anya by his side, he was hard to miss. Plus, he was one of a very few people who were dressed as Joxer. He'd been dancing with Anya off and on for the past few minutes while Willow and Buffy were people-watching, and was taking a break now.

"Hey Xander!" Willow said as she joined him and Anya.

"Will!" he said. "What are you wearing?"

She regarded her costume. "Buffy thought I could use a little extra encouragement tonight, so we swapped."

"Looks good on ya. Hey, this is Anya," he said.

"Hello, Anya - I'm Willow."

Anya turned to face Willow. "Oh, wonderful! All we need now is Gabrielle and we've got most of the cast for The Quill is Mightier than the Sword!"

Willow grinned. "Although that would mean I'd have to become obsessed with fishing, and leave the dance for most of the night."

"Good point," Anya said. "And I'd have to stop showering. That doesn't sound appealing."

"My favorite line from that episode is when Aphrodite is messing with her bangs and says 'Why won't it stay UP?' That gets me every time," Xander said.

The three continued to discuss their favorite Xena episodes, falling into an easy camaraderie.

Across the room, things were not going quite as smoothly. Tara wasn't having a bad time, exactly, but she felt hyper-aware of her surroundings and the time. This was familiar - when she was uncomfortable in a situation, she kept a close eye on the time, counting down the minutes until she could leave.

She felt that she didn't have much to say to Faith, and it was confusing to her. Gone was the easy conversation and banter they'd had online. In the past day and a half, whenever she brought up a topic that they had talked about extensively in chat, Faith smiled vaguely but didn't engage much. Finally, Tara asked her about it.

"L-listen, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Faith replied.

"It seems like you aren't really interested in t-talking about any of the things that we've talked about in chat. Every time I bring something up, you kind of brush it off."

Faith's face instantly assumed a sincere expression. "I know, I've been doing that. Listen, I don't mean to be uncommunicative. But it's like this: I figure that we've already discussed so much online, this weekend we should explore new topics. I just want to live in the now, you know?"

Tara nodded. "I can understand that, I guess."

Faith took her hand. "Speaking of living in the now - let's dance."

Tara followed Faith out onto the dance floor. She would sometimes accompany Anya out dancing, and always enjoyed herself if she was in the right mood. The beat of the music would seem to infiltrate her body, pouring itself through her veins and breaking down the barriers of her self-consciousness until all that remained was the music, the beat, and the rhythm of her body.

Somehow, she didn't think she would have that experience tonight.

Faith led her out to the middle of the dance floor, and began a series of slow, gyrating motions to the song that was playing. She was clearly at home on the dance floor, and a few of the people around her and Tara cast appreciative glances at her - whether at her dancing or her skimpy costume, Tara wasn't sure.

Tara swayed back and forth, not trying to match her movements to Faith's. Faith noted Tara's distance, and moved in closer until she was right in front of Tara.

"Loosen up, T," she said. "You've got hips - move 'em."

Tara smiled weakly. Rather than putting her at ease, Faith's comments only served to make her more self-conscious.

Faith moved sinuously around Tara until she was standing behind her, and wrapped her arms around Tara's waist. She pressed her body up against Tara's, and guided her in a series of movements which mostly resulted in Faith's hips gyrating against Tara's bottom.

Tara's inner barometer of discomfort, already strained, shot off the chart. Disentangling herself from Faith's grasp, she turned around. "Listen, I'm thirsty. I want to get some punch." She strode away from the dance floor toward the punch bowl, not waiting to see if Faith was following.

Faith did follow. Tara poured herself a glass of punch with hands that were trembling slightly, but she managed not to spill any. She took a drink, not looking at Faith.

Faith watched her, and seemed to make some assessment. "Listen, T. I forgot something up in my room. I'm gonna go get it. Shouldn't be longer than ten or fifteen minutes, okay? Unless you wanna come with me."

Tara shook her head.

"All right," Faith said. "I'll come find you." She walked away.

Tara watched her go, trying to figure out her reaction. She had definitely not enjoyed the last five minutes - but why? It wasn't anything necessarily different than the way many people behaved out in the clubs she had been to with Anya. Dancing by nature was an intimate act, and presumably even more so when you were technically "with" someone at a dance, as she was "with" Faith.

It was hard to put her finger on, but she thought she had some idea, at least. Faith didn't seem to sense how she was feeling, nor did she ask. "Let's go to lunch," "Let's dance," - as if Tara would automatically agree to whatever Faith wanted.

Which she had, so far. _Well, not for long. It's about time I started to speak up._

She looked across the room, having finished her punch and now at a loss for what to do with her hands. She spotted Xander and Anya, and caught a flash of red hair. _That's Willow._

She walked over to the three, who were laughing about a Xena episode.

"And then, like the fifth time when Joxer opened the barn door, and Xena and Gabrielle looked out from underneath that haystack all mussed with those guilty looks on their faces - you just KNOW what they were up to, don't you?" Willow was saying.

"Rampant lesbianism!" Anya said. "And speaking of rampant lesbianism, I think you already know Tara."

Tara blushed as Willow turned around. She was used to Anya's patented blunt comments at awkward moments, but Willow didn't seem embarrassed. Rather, she was smiling a wide grin at Tara.

"Yes, we met last night," Tara said. "Hi Willow. Hi Xander."

"Hi!" Willow said, her eyes sparkling. "We were just talking about _Been There, Done That_."

"I love that episode," Tara said. "It's like that movie _Groundhog Day_."

"Oh, I love that movie!" Willow enthused.

Anya regarded the two girls with a twinkle in her eye. "And I love this song," she announced. "Xander, will you dance with me?" Not waiting for a response, she walked away, holding his hand so he was forced to follow.

"You love the extended remix of _Good Vibrations_ by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch?" he asked as he was dragged along.

Tara watched them go, knowing what Anya was up to - taking Xander away so she could talk to Willow alone. She turned back to the redhead.

"So how are you doing?" she asked.

Willow smiled. _If she only knew what an effect such a simple question has on me. I'm glad I'm wearing this breastplate or else I'm sure she could see my heart beating so fast._ "I'm doing fine, and you?"

Tara smiled. "Me too." She gazed at Willow's costume. "So Xena, huh?" _I knew it._

Willow smiled ironically. "Yep, that's me - all with the big, bad, and butch. Warrior Princess Central here."

Tara detected the irony, but didn't understand the source. Deciding to change the topic, she asked "So how is the convention going for you so far?"

"I'm enjoying it - well, most of it," Willow replied. "I've been to some cool workshops, but there are some other parts that haven't really worked out like I was expecting."

"How so?"

_Should I tell her? I feel like I could tell her anything. But I can't just bust out with 'I was supposed to meet this girl from the internet who I've been chatting with for three months, and she stood me up. I'm totally crushed, but talking to you is making me feel better than I have all day.' Not only would that make me sound totally pathetic, it also might totally scare her away._

"Oh, um, just, you know, the people," Willow offered lamely. "There are so many of them, and it's really crowded."

"Is it because, um, Buffy? Is that her name? Is it because she's over there dancing with that guy?"

Willow was momentarily confused. "No, I'm glad that Buffy's having a good time, that she met someone."

"So you two aren't...together?"

A light dawned on Willow's face. "Oh! I see. No, we're not together at all. Ha! Buffy's as straight as, um, a really straight chair. We've been best friends since high school." She laughed.

Tara laughed along with her, internally rejoicing. Yes! They're not together!

"So what about you? Are you having a good time?" Willow asked.

Tara nodded, a little hesitantly. "Yeah, pretty much," she said. "I think I'm in the same boat as you - having fun at the workshops, but other parts of the con aren't really what I expected."

Willow smiled. "Well, if we're in the same boat together, then it must be a fun boat." She offered Tara a little grin, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile from the blonde.

Their eyes met, and Willow found herself helpless to make more small talk. Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice was talking insistently, saying that she was staring at Tara and should look away, but instead she continued to gaze into Tara's eyes.

A slow song came on, and couples around them began to walk toward the dance floor to start swaying together. The area around them cleared out fairly quickly, and Willow and Tara were left alone together.

"Um," Willow cleared her throat. She blinked, finally breaking eye contact with Tara, and looked down, then quickly up again, gathering courage. "Would you like to..."

"Hey, T," said a husky voice from right behind Willow. The redhead jumped, startled, and turned around to see the slut-bomb she and Buffy had spotted earlier.

The dark-haired girl, dressed in a black leather Callisto outfit, deftly stepped between Willow and Tara to end up at Tara's side. She stood with her hip thrust out, clearly staking her claim.

"So who's your friend?" Faith asked Tara.

"Willow, th-this is F-faith." Tara cursed internally as she stumbled over the words. Her stutter only exerted itself in times of stress or when she was feeling uncomfortable, and Faith's abrupt return had shaken her. She felt sure that Willow had been about to ask her to dance, and Tara wanted desperately to dance with Willow.

"Nice to meet you?" Willow said.

Faith didn't smile, or return the sentiment. "Listen, T, I'm sorry I was gone so long. I didn't mean to just leave you here. You must have been lonely without me." She stared at Willow as she said it, with a look that was clearly meant to intimidate.

Willow took the hint. Though she had been about to ask Tara to dance, the return of her possessive date had taken away the courage she had summoned up, and the draining events of the day had sapped her emotional strength. The last thing she felt like dealing with now was an unfriendly, possessive lesbian who thought she was out to steal her girlfriend. _Which I was, I guess._

"Listen, I need to go find Buffy anyway," Willow said. "It was nice talking to you, Tara. Faith, nice to...um, take care." She turned and made her way across the room to look for Xander and Anya.

Tara was fuming. Not only had Faith been incredibly rude, but she had pretty much intimidated Willow into leaving. _We are going to have it out._

Faith walked a few steps behind Tara to the punch bowl, and slopped punch into two cups with the ladle. She busied herself with them, and then turned around.

"Punch, T?"

_Wouldn't I like to._ "Listen, let's go sit over there. I want to talk to you about something." Tara indicated some tables and chairs that were set up in one corner of the ballroom where people weary of dancing could rest, or just sit and talk.

They walked over to a table that was unoccupied except for a single blonde occupant dressed in black leather. Tara smiled at the girl as she pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table from her. Even though they wouldn't have complete privacy, it was a large enough table that if she spoke in a low voice she wouldn't be overheard.

Faith had other plans, however. "Hey! Blondie! You mind? We'd like a little privacy."

The blonde girl looked over, annoyed. "It's a public table, and I have every right to sit here."

Faith lifted her hands in mock surrender. "Okay, Ms. ACLU. Whatever. Who are you supposed to be, anyway? Wait, don't tell me. I can guess. Minya, right?"

The blonde stood up. "Are you seriously joking? Helloooooooo - I'm Callisto!"

Faith crossed her arms. "Could have fooled me."

Offended, the blonde girl stood up and pushed in her chair. "Well you're just a...jerk!" With that rejoinder, the stomped away.

Faith turned back to Tara and sat down.

"That was mean, Faith," Tara said quietly.

"Well, we've got the table to ourselves, don't we?"

Tara wrinkled her nose. She detected the faint odor of whiskey on Faith's breath. _Great. She went upstairs to drink whiskey. Could this evening get any worse?_ Annoyed, she reached for her glass of punch and took a drink.

She immediately spit it out. "Did you put whiskey in my punch?"

Faith raised her hands in a placating manner. "C'mon, T, don't get all Temperance Society on me. I just thought you could use a little somethin-somethin to loosen you up. You're way too high strung."

"Listen to me. First of all, my name is Tara. Not T. Tara. Second, I can't believe you'd spike my drink without telling me. That borders on illegal. And third..."

"And third, did I mention you need to loosen up?" Faith repeated. She leaned forward and grasped the tie at the top of Tara's shirt that held her collar closed. "Starting with this." She gave it a yank and Tara's collar fell open.

Tara smacked Faith's hand away and stood up. "I have had enough!" she shouted. A few people nearby looked over. "You just have no respect. I can't _believe_ you're the same person I got to know these last three months. I don't know what you thought was going to happen tonight, but listen to me - the only thing that's going to happen between us is me telling you not to bother me ever again. Not in person, no private messages, and no chat. You got it?"

Faith shrugged. "Uptight," she muttered, and downed her punch.

Tara shook her head, turned, and walked away.


	10. Splitsville

Tara breathed deeply as she walked away from the table. The intensity of her anger surprised her - she normally dealt with upsetting situations by rationally figuring out the source of her distress, and then taking methodical steps to deal with it. But Faith's actions had provoked a purely instinctive response. She didn't like the feeling - such raw anger made her feel out of control.

She spied Anya in the middle of the ballroom dancing with Xander. Weaving her way through the throng of people, she reached out and grasped Anya's arm.

Anya turned. "Hey!" she said, instantly registering Tara's emotional upset. "Something happened, didn't it?"

Tara nodded.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded again. "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning. Right now I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving the dance. I'll probably go up to our room or walk around or something."

"Do you want me to come with you? You just say the word, and I will."

Tara almost burst into tears - not that she was surprised by her roommate's offer, but because her emotions were on a roller coaster anyway. "No, you stay here with Xander. I'm just going to unwind and think a bit - I'll be fine."

"Promise?" Anya didn't push, knowing knew Tara well enough to know that she wouldn't have hesitated to ask for companionship if she had wanted it.

"Yes." The two exchanged a hug, and Tara quickly found the path of least resistance from the ballroom to the nearest exit.

* * *

Willow sighed as she walked back into the ballroom from the restroom. The high point of her night, talking to Tara, had been cut mercilessly short, and the next hour she had spent at the dance was singularly unsatisfying. She hadn't seen Tara again, and she was rapidly tiring of playing third wheel to Xander and Buffy's newfound love interests. Her friends didn't make her feel like she was intruding, of course, but she was painfully aware of being the only sword without a sheath. _Maybe that's not the right image - the only yin without a yang._ She had turned down five offers for slow dances from Xander and Angel - and one from Anya. Endless cups of sugary punch made her feel slightly sick, and the only silver lining to her many bathroom trips was that she had an activity to keep her busy. Normally being solo wouldn't faze her, but this weekend had definitely not been the best of times.

Buffy was engrossed in conversation with Angel, who hadn't left her side all night since asking her to dance. Wanting to let her friend know she was leaving, she approached them and cleared her throat to announce her presence.

"Hey, Will!" Buffy said, turning from Angel and facing Willow.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to go upstairs," Willow said, with an apologetic glance at Angel.

Buffy's face took on a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just think that I've had all the fun I'm going to have for tonight, and hey - I should go out on a high note." Willow's tone belied the irony behind her words.

"Listen, I'll come with you! We'll all come! Party time in our room!"

Willow smiled. "No, you don't need to come with me, seriously. I'm fine. I think I'm going to work on my fan fiction, so no need for a party."

Buffy studied Willow's expression. "Are you sure?"

Willow nodded, knowing that Buffy needed to believe that Willow truly wanted to be alone in order to feel comfortable with letting her go. Truth was, she was ambivalent about whether or not she wanted Buffy's company - she could be equally happy bemoaning the events of the day again with Buffy, or stewing by herself. But Buffy's clear happiness at talking to Angel had decided the matter for Willow - she didn't want to take Buffy away from that.

Willow turned to Angel. "Angel, it was very nice to meet you. You make a wonderful Cupid."

He smiled. "I appreciate that. And you're a very convincing warrior princess."

Willow smiled, and with a quick hug from Buffy, she headed toward the stairs.

Buffy and Angel watched her go. "Think she'll be okay?" Angel asked.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy said. "Will is resilient. Sometimes I call her Iron Will."

Angel laughed. "You're funny, you know. You slay me."

* * *

Willow unlatched the breastplate from the shoulder straps and let the armor fall to the ground. Removing the rest of her costume, she pulled on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt and settled onto the bed with her laptop.

While the machine was booting up, she leaned back into the pillows and sighed. Instead of feeling energized and excited, she was feeling drained. She had been painfully aware of herself tonight at the dance - her body, her hands - experiencing a level of social anxiety that she hadn't felt in years. Growing up she had always felt like the odd one out, but high school and college had done a lot to help her like herself and to stop the constant commentary of self-criticism in her head. But the events of today had taken her back to that place. She had felt aware of every step she took, had felt too self-conscious to dance, and worried the entire night about how others were perceiving her.

Well, not the entire night, she amended. She had enjoyed talking about Xena episodes with Xander and Anya, and people-watching with Buffy. But Xander didn't really count - he was her oldest friend, and she shared an uncommonly close friendship with Buffy. It was being around the other people that had caused her the anxiety.

Except for Tara. Talking to Tara had made all her anxiety just melt away like an ice cube on a hot sidewalk. What was it about the blonde that put her at such ease? Willow pondered this as she called up the blonde's features in her mind.

_Her eyes. Her eyes are amazing to look at - they're so penetrating, as if she can see right through me and she understands exactly what I mean. And she always looks right at me when we're talking - she pays attention better than most people, and she's never looking at anyone else. It makes me feel like I'm the only person in the room. _

_Her ears. They're so cute, and they stick out a little bit when she tucks her hair behind them. She's a great listener - when we were talking downstairs she didn't seem distracted at all. At least, not until Faith got back and interrupted us. _

_Her mouth. She has such full lips - substantial, without being pouty. And she has such a sweet smile, when she smiled at my silly joke about being in the same boat. Wouldn't I like to be in a boat with her._

Willow considered this last. From what she could tell, Tara hadn't seemed to be enjoying herself with Faith. They appeared to be together, but it didn't seem to Willow that Tara was necessarily happy about it. She wondered if they were a long-term couple that had become disenchanted with each other. That didn't seem likely - even couples who were on the rocks had some degree of familiarity and comfort with each other, and Willow had sensed none of that.

_Truth is, if I had gone downstairs at noon and it was Tara who was there, I would have been thrilled. She's the kind of person who I was hoping or expecting wiccanbard to be. What if - by some crazy coincidence - Tara IS wiccanbard?_

Willow was momentarily caught up in this seductive fantasy. _What if something happened, and she's the person I was supposed to meet, but for some reason she was late, or chickened out?_

She sighed. _Well, she's a wonderful person, and that's almost proof positive that she's not wiccanbard - because the Tara I've gotten to know just isn't that type of person. I can't see her standing anyone up that she had plans with. I guess I'll just have to accept that whomever it was that I thought I was going to meet, she's not the person I thought she was._

The line of thought was depressing her. Her laptop was fully booted up now, and she called up the latest draft of her story. She had completed the draft, and planned to read it tomorrow night at the Sunday fan fiction reading. There were a few details she wanted to flesh out, however, so she arranged the pillows behind her on the bed in a comfortable pile and leaned back, settling the computer onto her lap.

_Okay, I haven't really set this story anywhere - all the descriptors are generic. I think it would help the story to feel more real if I could fill in some of the details about the town, the places, and the people. _

_Where would a vampire story take place? Well, Transylvania, obviously. But I don't know anything about that part of the country, and then it might feel too much like Dracula anyway. Besides, the characters are mostly American-type people so it should be somewhere in the United States. _

_What city would be logical for vampires to live in? Somewhere dark and depressing, maybe, like Cleveland. Or...um...Crawford, Texas. Ha. Hmmmm. Only problem is, I don't know much about those cities, and I don't really think spending hours on Google finding out authentic details will do wonders for my mood. _

_Why not Sunnydale? It's totally the last place anyone would think of for vampires, being southern California and all, but maybe that can be part of the irony of the story. And I know all about it so I can fill in street names and places without it sounding made-up. _

_Excellent. Okay, now about Xena the Vampire Slayer. Obviously, she kicks ass, but what kind of personality should she have? If she's a California girl, she's gotta have a little bit of the Valley thing going on. Canon Xena is all broody, but plenty of the comedic episodes let Lucy Lawless really go wild with Xena's silly side. I don't think it will deviate too far from canon to play up some of her more lighthearted qualities. I can add some humorous lines here and there about clothes, boys, and makeup, since she's supposed to be a teenager in this story. _

_I can take a lot from Buffy's life, actually. Willow smiled to herself. I wonder if Xena would have been more like Buffy if her brother hadn't been killed when she was young and she became a warlord and all. Buffy certainly has her dark side, what with her parents' divorce and moving right before high school and all, but it's more like her playful side masks her dark side, rather than vice versa. _

_That takes care of Xena. Now, about Gabrielle. I don't really see any difference here, except that instead of being a fighter, she's going to use magic to help Xena fight the vampires. And Gabrielle's character has always been sweet and innocent with a feisty streak. I think that will work pretty well here._

As Willow considered the character, her mind drifted to thoughts of another blonde. _Tara was dressed like Gabrielle tonight - I wonder if she sees herself as like Gabrielle. She seems innocent, but not prissy, and sweet, but not saccharin. Hard to tell if she's feisty, though, with Faith around. Speaking of which, who would want to dress up as Callisto? I mean, really. Hmmm, I think I'll make Callisto a vampire, and have Gabrielle stake her. Or cut off her head. Or burn her. Maybe all three._

Willow shook her head, trying to clear her mind and concentrate on her story. She paged through the story, filling in part of the setting with familiar details from Sunnydale, and fleshing out the Xena character. Gradually she became absorbed in the work and was able to temporarily push aside any other thoughts, a welcome relief.

* * *

In a different room on a different floor, Tara tossed restlessly, caught up in a dream where she was running through the forest in pursuit of a red-headed warrior princess who was always just out of reach. Relentlessly pursued by a dark-haired Callisto, she leapt over streams, sprinted up hills, and dodged under fallen trees - always one step in front of her pursuer, and one step behind the object of her desire.


	11. Real Life

Tara shifted in her chair as she curled her hands around the cooling mug of tea. She was curled up under a blanket in the armchair with her legs tucked under her, staring off into space - what would have been out the window if the curtains had been open. It was early and she had been awake since six o'clock. Unable to sleep any longer and tired of tossing and turning, she had finally got out of bed and made herself some tea, moving quietly so as not to wake Anya.

Pensive didn't even begin to describe her mood. She felt exhausted from her night of anxious dreams. Being both the chaser and the chased had given way to dreaming of message boards and chat rooms. The amazon_hacker she chatted was different, though - uncommunicative, sarcastic, and a little cruel. In her dream, Tara kept typing away, hoping for a different response, but was continually met with the same sardonic replies.

She took one last sip of the lukewarm beverage and set it quietly on the edge of the table. The mug made the quietest of clinks on the polished wooden surface, but in the quiet of the room it sounded loud to Tara and she winced. She had fallen asleep long before Anya returned to the room, and knew that her friend probably hadn't had a lot of sleep.

Anya stirred and turned over in her bed to face the window, pulling the covers up securely under her chin. She opened her eyes and took in the sight of Tara in the armchair.

"Can't sleep?"

Tara looked over. "I didn't mean to wake you, An - I'm sorry. Go back to sleep - you don't have to be up for at least another couple of hours."

Anya rubbed her eyes and craned her neck to look at the digital clock. The neon numerals read 7:07 a.m.

"You've got that right." She yawned, but didn't close her eyes. "Is that coffee?"

"Tea."

"Where did you get tea?"

"I brought a couple of teabags with me and made hot water in the coffee pot."

"Clever." Anya stretched underneath the covers. "All right, Maclay, we both know I won't be going back to sleep anytime soon, so why don't you brew yourself another cup of tea and I'll make coffee, and we can talk."

Tara didn't budge. "I'm sure you were up late - you should go back to sleep while you still can."

"Too late!" Anya threw the covers off in one dramatic motion and sat up. "Don't you play the martyr with me, I know you too well. You want to talk."

Tara smiled as Anya walked over, took her mug from the table, and carried it over to the coffee pot where she emptied the rest of the hot water from the carafe into the mug. She selected a teabag from the box Tara has left near the coffeemaker, plopped it into the mug, and returned it to Tara.

"I would say thank you, but I know that was all about freeing up the coffee pot so you can make coffee," Tara said.

Anya busied herself with the filter pack of coffee grounds that the hotel provided, and carried the now-empty carafe into the bathroom to refill it. "Correct, so thank you for omitting the customary pleasantries." She pushed the on button and plopped down on Tara's bed while she waited for the coffee to brew.

"So what's got you all can't-sleep-thinky?" Anya asked. "I mean, obviously it's whatever happened last night, right?"

"Yes and no. In a nutshell, last night Faith was a jerk and I told her off and she and I are through."

"A jerk how?"

Tara sighed. "It was ridiculous. I mean, it would have been laughable if it wasn't so horrendously uncomfortable. She was grinding all over me on the dance floor, she was really rude to Willow and to this other girl, and she spiked my punch with whiskey."

Anya raised her eyebrows. "This sounds like a train wreck."

Tara nodded. "And that's not even the most shocking part. An, she was dressed as Callisto!"

"_That's_ the most shocking part?"

"I know, it sounds stupid. But it's just like she's not even the same person that I got to know over the past three months. A couple of months ago when we were talking about some of the earlier episodes, she really seemed to take it personally, everything that Callisto put Gabrielle and the Amazons through. I was floored when she showed up dressed like her."

The coffee pot made gurgling noises as it finished percolating. Anya rose to pour herself a cup of the brew. She stirred in creamer and sugar, and tapped the stirrer against the side of the mug as she considered this.

"Okay, let's look at this from a different angle. If this were a fan fiction story, and you were reading it and a character who had been so much one way suddenly changed and was really different, what do you think the cause would be?"

Tara frowned at Anya, not understanding the reason for the question, but played along. "Well, I would guess that maybe someone, a god or some magical device, had switched the person with someone else. That's been done a lot."

"So doesn't it seem logical that something like that is at work here?"

Tara snorted. "Yeah, except that demonic possession and Greek gods don't really exist."

Anya lifted a remonstrating finger and took a sip of her coffee, warming to her subject. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. But real-world prejudices aside, talk this through with me. You've been talking to this girl for three months, yeah?"

"Yep."

"She's been funny, quirky, and really talkative, from what you've told me."

"Yep."

"And all of a sudden you meet her in person and she's totally different."

"Yeah - she was quieter than I would have expected."

"And you thought this could have been due to nerves."

"At first, yeah, but the more time I spent with her, the more time I thought she was just a jerk."

"Possibly. But answer me this - have you two talked about any of the things that you've chatted about online? Three months, it can't be all about Xena and Gabrielle - you must have had other topics."

"Sure, we talked about a lot of stuff. Karma, the nature of forgiveness and redemption, comparative religion, writing, computer science - she spent quite a bit of time explaining computer stuff to me."

"Did you revisit any of those subjects yesterday?"

Tara frowned again. "Well, no. I brought up a few of them - asked her how her new story was going - she's writing something that's like Dracula meets Charmed, by the way - not a crossover, but a vampire story with witches, doesn't that sound funny? - some stuff about computers - and every time I brought something like that up, she'd change the subject. She said she didn't want to rehash old topics, but to talk about new ones, or something like that."

"Aha." Anya nodded sagely and swallowed a large mouthful of coffee. "I submit to you, Tara Maclay, that Faith is not your amazon_hacker at all, but an imposter."

Tara grasped the teabag from her steaming cup and laid it aside. "You're saying that she's acting so different, that there's no way she's the same person."

Anya nodded. "All the evidence adds up. She avoids past topics, she acts totally different than she has before, and here's the most damning piece of evidence - you said she was a computer geek, right?"

Tara nodded.

"Well, in my experience the true computer geeks don't ever shut up about computers - routers, security patches, wireless networks, and god knows what else. Answer me this: did she talk at all about version 1.0.7 of Firefox?"

"No."

"That's the clincher. The computer geeks in my accounting class couldn't stop talking about it this week - they're practically wetting their polyester pants about all the new features. Tara, she's not who she says she is."

Tara bit her lip and took a sip of her tea. "You should be a lawyer."

Anya laughed as she finished her coffee and refilled her cup. "The real money's in commerce and finance. I'm going to have armies of lawyers for my lackeys."

Tara smiled at this, but her expression quickly returned to one of consideration. "I've been thinking a lot this morning - I got up early and have been sitting here wondering about the past three months. Whether Faith is or isn't amazon_hacker, and I'm not convinced she isn't - she had the pin, after all, and that was something we worked out in a private chat - I was thinking about my life, and meeting people on the internet, and just all of it. It's a big mishmash in my head right now, but I was kind of thinking that I should start spending less time on the internet and the Warrior board, and more time in...real life."

Anya smiled sympathetically and waited for Tara to finish.

"It's just that, I keep going over this - maybe I was so wrapped up in my idea of who amazon_hacker was, that I was blind to all of this other stuff. Maybe it was right there for me to see, and I missed it because I had built up this perfect idea of who I wanted her to be. And what do I do now? Go back to the Warrior board and try to meet someone else?"

Anya broke in. "If how people appear online is really different from their real personalities, that must mean that Cordelia is a really deep person, and the obsession with fashion is just a front to mask her pain at being misunderstood."

"Well, maybe some people are who they appear to be. But the point is, I won't know until I actually meet them, and anyway - I'm talking in circles here. I just mean, overall, that I think that maybe it's time for me to start being a little braver."

"Well, sweetie, if that's what you want to do, then I fully support you. I'll accompany you out to all the hottest lesbian clubs when we get home."

Tara laughed. "It's a deal. But I kind of thought that I might start today."

"Today?"

She blushed and said, "You know Willow, Xander's friend?"

"The one you had coffee with? xenarulz?"

"Yes. I spent some time talking to her last night, and I really like her. But then Faith came back from her whiskey run and broke it up. Anyway, I'm going to find her today and talk to her. Maybe ask her to lunch."

Anya grinned. "I think that's a great idea. Xander and I talked with her a little bit last night and she seems very nice. And you can expand your horizons a little bit. Maybe she'll lead you to new depths of appreciation of the finer points of fighting."

Tara spread her hands and said, "Anything's possible."

"Now, my precociously conscious roommate, as long as we're both up so early, how about we get ready and go get some real breakfast? There's plenty of time before the first panel discussions."

Tara's stomach rumbled at the thought of breakfast, and she nodded instantly. "First shower, or second?"

"You go ahead, I'll polish off this coffee."

Tara rose and headed for the bathroom, feeling better than she had this morning. _Could Faith really be an imposter? Well, it doesn't matter - I'm done with all that internet stuff._

* * *

Willow awakened before her friends around 8:30 and decided to take a shower while they were still asleep. Before showering, she looked at the convention schedule and scribbled a note by the closing plenary session.

_Can we leave after this?_

They had paid for their room through Monday morning, but Willow wasn't sure if she could face another night in the hotel, at the convention. It was a two-hour drive back to Sunnydale and she figured that they'd get home by 8pm if they left right after the plenary, and Buffy wouldn't have to drive in the dark.

When she came out of the shower wrapped in a towel, Buffy and Xander were still in bed. She stopped by the convention schedule on the desk, and noted the reply to her question, written in the same purple ink that she used to indicate Buffy's suggested workshops on the schedule.

_No! You are reading tonight._

She picked up the schedule and noted the two other additions - the chakram pizza, which was signed by Xander, and the notation by the "Mary Sue" panel discussion that Cordelia should attend.

"You guys aren't really asleep, are you?" she asked.

A muffled laugh from Buffy's pillow was her answer. "You caught us," she said.

"Cute artwork."

Xander sat up. "Normally you have our whole schedules planned out the night before, but we noticed today that you hadn't, so we thought we'd lend a hand."

"And you've worked so hard on that story, you are definitely reading it tonight," Buffy added.

Willow traced her finger on the part of the schedule that noted the fan fiction reading. "I guess you're right. If we left and I didn't read this story, I'd probably regret it later. Even though I don't really feel like doing it now."

She picked up her green pen and added a reply of her own to Buffy's comment.

_Okay, okay..._

* * *

Willow had been waiting in the exhibit hall for Buffy and Xander for more than an hour. She had planned on attending the panel discussion about "The Writing Process," but at the last minute decided to skip it. She was tired from the late night spent revising her story, and both Buffy and Xander had come in around 1:00 a.m., so they had stayed up even later talking. Buffy was excited about having met Angel and Xander was head-over-heels about Anya.

"And get this - he's only about an hour away from Sunnydale! He lives in L.A. and manages a hotel," Buffy had said. "So we'll get to see each other again."

Willow leaned against the wall. She had been leafing idly through one of the free newspapers the hotel provided in the lobby, but focusing on the tiny print took more effort than she wanted to put forth. She leaned her head back against the wall and watched the people through lidded eyes.

Most people were in the morning panel discussions, but a few stragglers meandered around and browsed through the Xena merchandise. Willow's eyes lit on a familiar figure.

Faith stood near the table with her hands in the two back pockets of her black jeans, looking at an assortment of chakram and sword jewelry. She wore a black tank top and carried a leather jacket under one arm. As the air conditioning in the room kicked on, she shook out the jacket. A small purple object fell out of one of the pockets as pulled it onto her arms. It bounced once and lay on the floor near her feet.

Willow's eyes narrowed. From a distance, the object looked familiar. She stood and walked the short distance over to Faith. She reached down and picked up her purple kitten pin.

"What are you doing with this?" she demanded of Faith.

Faith looked at the pin in Willow's hand, and at Willow's accusing expression. "And a good morning to you too, Red."

"This is mine. Where did you get it?"

Faith adjusted the collar of her jacket. "Don't blow a gasket, Red. I found it."

"Found it where? When?"

Faith inspected her fingernails. "Yesterday, here in the exhibit hall. It was lying on the floor over by the Creation booth. Caused me a world of trouble, too."

Willow put the pin in her pocket and looked at Faith suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Faith shrugged. "Not twenty seconds after I picked it up, this girl came up to me and was talking to me, really friendly and familiar-like, and wanted to go to lunch. She kept going on and on about the pin, and how it was exactly like I had described it. I couldn't get a word in edgewise."

"Tara thought you were me?" Willow's eyes opened wide.

"Tara?" Faith's eyes narrowed. "No. Tara's...my girlfriend. She saw this girl all over me, and got mad."

Willow deflated. "Mad?"

"Yeah, she has a real insecure streak. Anyway, I figured it must have been something about the pin but Tara dragged me away before I could explain it to this girl. So I stuck it in my pocket and just forgot about it till now, honestly."

Willow's mind was racing. She had sensed the tension between Faith and Tara. And if wiccanbard really had thought Faith was amazon_hacker, that would explain why she hadn't stayed around the exhibit hall for very long. It must have been confusing for her, thinking that amazon_hacker had a jealous girlfriend in tow. Having crossed paths with Faith herself, Willow wasn't surprised that wiccanbard had beat a hasty retreat.

"What was her name? I was supposed to be meeting her."

Faith sighed. "I didn't even have a chance get her name. I'm really sorry."

Willow was crushed, and it showed.

Faith put a hand on Willow's shoulder. "Look, Red. I'm really sorry. Didn't mean to mess up whatever angle you were working. Listen - if I see her again, I'll recognize her for sure. Tell you what - if I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her. And if you're around, I'll grab you. How about that?"

Willow fairly bounced with excitement. "Yes! Please! I really need to find her and explain."

Faith grinned. "You can count on me."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Willow impulsively hugged Faith.

A mass of people started to pour through the entrance that connected the exhibit hall to the meeting rooms. Willow caught sight of Buffy and Xander and with a parting wave at Faith, sprinted over to meet them.

"Guys, guess what? You'll never guess," Willow spouted excitedly to her friends as she hooked arms with them and dragged them towards the front doors. "Lunch is on me! So exciting..."

Tara arrived in the exhibit hall a few moments later, looking around for Willow. She had hoped she'd run into the redhead at the panel discussion about the writing process, but she had had no such luck. She hadn't been able to find her outside of the Mary Sue workshop either, so she had come to the exhibit hall. However, Willow was nowhere to be found. Tara compressed her lips into a thin line with frustration.

_Oh well. I can find her this afternoon. I'm sure she'll be at that fight scenes workshop._


	12. Revealed

1:30 p.m.

Tara had been looking for Willow all morning. Much to her chagrin, she hadn't been able to spot her before lunch. At 1:00 p.m., she had gone to the "Xena as Mafia Kingpin" workshop, certain that as big a fan of Xena's as Willow was would be sure to attend. When Willow wasn't there, Tara had slipped out the door.

She joined Anya in the the "Smut: Come One, Come All" workshop, who was busily taking notes and adding her insights to the discussion, but there was no Willow. Tara thought about leaving and checking the other two workshops, but decided against it.

_Play it cool. You'll run into her._

* * *

2:35 p.m.

Tara and Anya left the smut workshop together, Anya loaded down with handouts and her own notes. Tara looked wryly at her roommate's heavy load.

"That's a whole lotta smut," she commented.

Anya beamed. "Isn't it great?" she said. "I'm glad they included my handout."

"Just don't leave that pile anywhere where someone could pick it up by mistake. You could give some unsuspecting person a heart attack," Tara said.

"No kidding - although that would be more of a concern if..."

"Be right back!" Tara said, catching sight of Willow further down the hall. She weaved her way through the crush of bodies, people milling around after the workshops let out. A few people got in her way, but she skirted around them.

Just as she got to the far end of the hall, she saw Willow take off running in the opposite direction toward the exhibit hall. The redhead was soon out of sight.

"Damn!" Tara uncharacteristically swore.

* * *

2:37 p.m.

"Faith!" Willow called out as she caught up.

Faith turned around. "Hey."

"Have you seen her?" Willow asked, out of breath.

"I just saw her across the room," Faith indicated the other side of the exhibit hall. "She looked like she was heading upstairs."

Willow grimaced. "Do you think I could catch her if I ran to the elevators?"

Faith shrugged. "Maybe. She was pretty far ahead of you. But it's worth a try."

"What does she look like?"

"Pink fuzzy sweater, long orange and purple plaid skirt. You really can't miss her."

"Thanks!"

Willow sprinted off toward the elevators.

* * *

3:15 p.m.

Tara sat in the Xena fight scenes roundtable, debating with herself about whether it would cause a ruckus if she got up and left so soon after the start. She had been sure that Willow would show up, but now it was fifteen minutes into the discussion and Tara hadn't seen anyone she recognized. Plus, the discussion was boring her to tears.

"There's definitely a bit of tae kwon do in Xena's moves, but I've also noticed a touch of the barroom brawler in her."

"Oh, definitely, but I there's a hint of kung fu influence on her side kicks rather than tae kwon do. Just look at the angle at which her foot impacted Borias' cheek in the 'Debt' episodes."

"But presumably Lao Ma taught Xena other fighting philosophies during that time, so we can't take her fighting style from Season 2 as representative of her entire approach."

Tara visually worked out a route to the door, calculating how many people she would be likely to trip over along the way.

_Sure would be nice if I could just leap up and flip over everyone, like Xena does._

* * *

3:55 p.m.

"They definitely started doing it after 'Altared States'."

"No, the fact that subtext existed in 'Altared States' at all means they must have started doing it BEFORE then."

"Come on, people - the subtext in Season 1 can just be taken as flirting, or the expression of their unconscious desires. I think we can safely assume they were doing it during 'A Day in the Life'."

"Hellooooo, people, you are forgetting about 'The Quest'!"

Willow leaned over to Buffy and whispered "Isn't this great?"

Buffy jerked awake and looked at Willow, blinking rapidly. "Um, yeah! Great!"

Willow nudged Buffy. "You were nice to come to this workshop with me. I know it's not what you're most interested in."

Buffy smiled. "No problem. I'm all for the moral support when it comes to fixing crossed wires. Like an electrician's sidekick, that's me."

"So after this is over, we'll go to the exhibit hall and look for Faith?"

Buffy nodded. "I think you described her well enough that I'll recognize her, although I don't remember seeing her at the dance."

"Well, just remember to look for the lipstick."

"And a person in a pink sweater and an orange and purple skirt? Will, I don't mean to sound skeptical, but are you sure you can trust this Faith?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that outfit doesn't sound like anything that anyone would wear voluntarily."

Willow pursed her mouth. "Maybe she's got a unique sense of style. Besides, why would Faith make up something like that?"

"I don't know," said Buffy. "All I'm saying is, beware Greeks bearing gifts."

Willow frowned. "I don't think Faith is Greek."

"Well, then, don't forget to look a Trojan gift horse in the mouth. Or something. I just don't know if you should trust her."

"EXCUSE ME," said one of the discussion attendees. "Do you mind keeping it down? We're having a discussion here." She looked at Buffy. "When do YOU think they started doing it?"

Buffy blinked. "Um. In Sickness and in Hell."

"WHAT?"

* * *

4:55 p.m.

Tara was frustrated. The plenary session was about to start and she hadn't been able to find Willow all day. She had only had one glimpse of Willow, who had then inexplicably run in the opposite direction. She looked around the crowded ballroom, but didn't see the redhead - although the lines of sight were not clear since the ballroom had several pillars throughout.

"Anya," she whispered, "Were you planning on seeing Xander for dinner tonight?"

Anya looked up from her notebook. "I hadn't planned on it. I was going to meet up with him after tonight. Why?"

Tara bit her lip. "I've been looking for Willow and haven't run into her, so I was wondering if you were going to see Xander, and then I could ask him where she is."

"I hadn't planned on it, but we'll look for him after this is over. If we don't find him, we'll call his room, okay?"

Tara nodded.

4:56 p.m.

Tara wasn't the only one who was frustrated. Willow's mood had taken a turn for the worse. After talking to Faith in the afternoon, she had been unable to find a person wearing a pink fuzzy sweater and orange and purple plaid skirt, nor Faith herself between the break in the discussion roundtable and the beginning of the plenary session. She was waiting outside the ballroom in hopes of catching Faith on the way in while Buffy and Xander saved her a seat. It was possible that wiccanbard had changed her outfit, and Willow wanted to get more details about her looks if that was the case.

They were a little late arriving, so they had to settle for seats in the back with their view partially obstructed by a pillar, but Willow didn't care about having a good view. Unfortunately, there were two entrances to the Grand Ballroom, and Willow couldn't be in two places at once. She heard the opening sentences of the plenary session begin, and still no Faith. Sighing, she went inside to join Buffy and Xander.

_She's like a...a safety pin, or a band-aid. Cluttering up the place when you don't want or need one, but the minute you do, it's as if she never existed._

* * *

6:58 p.m.

Tara settled into the couch next to Anya, thoroughly disgruntled. She hadn't been able to find Willow after the plenary, or around dinnertime either. Their call to Xander's room had gone unanswered. If she had had any reason to suspect, she would have thought that Willow was avoiding her. As it was, she was simply discouraged.

"I wonder if we'll hear any smutty stories tonight," Anya said.

Tara rubbed her eyes. "I'm sure we will - with all these smut workshops, I'm sure people have been inspired."

"Well, that's good, because..."

Tara jumped up. "Save my seat!" she called to Anya as she weaved her way around the people sitting on the floor toward the door, where she had spotted Willow.

Willow was standing with her back to the door, looking as if she were waiting for someone. As Tara moved closer, Willow left the doorway and moved out of her line of sight.

She closed the distance to the doorway and looked around the corner, intending to follow Willow wherever it was that she was going, but she didn't have far to look. Willow was talking to Faith. _Faith?!_

Tara's expression soured and she turned around to go back to her seat.

* * *

6:59 p.m.

"Have you seen her?" Willow asked Faith.

Faith assumed an expression of regret. "Not since early afternoon. I've been keeping an eye out all day. Haven't seen hide nor hair."

Willow's face fell. "Do you think she's gone?"

"I hate to say it, Red, but I think she's probably left the con. But cheer up - you can send her a private message when you get home, and explain the whole thing."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for trying," Willow said. She tried to smile at Faith, but she was so disappointed that she was sure her smile didn't look sincere.

"No problem. Going in?"

"Yes," Willow replied. "I'm reading tonight, I think."

The girls entered the Sunset Lounge, where Cordelia was calling the room to order.

"Attention, people! This is the last night of the fan fiction reading for the Warrior, the Bard, and the Bad Wardrobe. Andrew and I want to thank you all so much for coming to these readings, and for continuing to be active participants on the warriorboard. Even though the show is over, we can keep Xena and Gabrielle alive and having adventures together."

Applause broke out throughout the room, which Cordelia acknowledged with a modest grin and applause of her own.

"Okay - so far we only have one person signed up to read." Cordelia gestured toward Willow, who was making her way back to her seat.

Tara sat on the couch, by now thoroughly confused._ Willow was talking to Faith? Now she's going to read? xenarulz hasn't written anything that I know of._

Willow reached her seat and Buffy handed her a stack of papers. She turned and walked to the front of the room.

"Hi, everybody," she said. She seemed as if she wanted to say something else, but instead cleared her throat and shuffled her papers.

Tara studied Willow. Something definitely seemed wrong. Her affect was flat, her shoulders were slumped, and her green eyes were not sparkling as they usually did. She leaned over toward Anya to ask if she noticed it too, but lost all thought of asking as she focused on what Willow was saying.

"Xena took her usual path through the cemetery, first completing a circuit of the perimeter and then walking the paths that led to the center of the graveyard. She had patrolled this route several times in the past few months since coming to Sunnydale in the fall. She concentrated on the freshly dug graves from this week's funerals - which never were in short supply in Sunnydale.

"The ground trembled by one of the new graves, and Xena tensed as the dirt was pushed aside. A pale hand appeared, clawing at the air. It found purchase in the dirt, and grabbed at the turf. Slowly, with trembling strain, an arm emerged from the dirt, clad in a dark sleeve.

"With one last push that showered dirt to both sides, the vampire emerged. His forehead was bumpy, and his eyes glittered with malice. He spotted Xena and hissed at her.

"'Hello, dinner.'

"Xena grasped the wooden stake in her hand. The new vampires always came out of the grave half-crazed with hunger. Any caution they might have displayed she dispelled by taunting them.

"Hey, fangs. The only person you'd scare is a dentist. I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish yet affordable boots."

The vampire roared with ire, and began to sprint towards Xena. She shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet as she prepared to leap aside, pivot, and thrust her stake through his heart. It was a move she used with regularity.

"Before she could jump aside, however, the world exploded.

"'Inciendio!'

"A bright flash of light briefly illuminated the cemetery. The vampire looked down at his chest in dismay as bright orange flames blossomed. The flames quickly spread and consumed his entire body, and with a scream of frustration, he vanished into a pile of dust.

"Xena blinked, momentarily blinded by the flash. She squinted across at a figure that stood by a group of gravestones about twenty yards away. Even with the aftereffects of the blast clouding her vision, her Slayer sight had no trouble distinguishing who had cast the spell.

"'Inciendio?' she called. 'Who are you, Harry Potter?'

"The figure began walking across the cemetery, closing the distance rapidly. She approached Xena and without any greeting, threw her arms around the taller girl's neck. She gave the other girl a lingering kiss.

"Xena melted into the kiss, encircling the blonde's waist with her arms. After a moment, she lifted her head and sighed contentedly.

"'Hey, baby,' she said. 'I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow.'

"Gabrielle beamed at her. 'Mom wanted to come back a day early, so I thought I'd surprise you.'

"'You certainly did. That's a nice spell.'

"'Developed it myself! Just a little bit of localized fire magic, with the words to focus it spatially.'

"Xena laughed. 'With a debt of thanks to J. K. Rowling, so it would seem.'

"'Hey, no copyright infringement is intended.'

The room erupted into laughter, but Tara sat rooted to her seat in shock.

_What is going on?_

The plot of this story so far seemed to be exactly what amazon_hacker had described to Tara in one of their recent chats before UberCon. A Charmed/Dracula crossover in concept, it was a story about a vampire slayer who was teamed up with a witch. Together, they patrolled the cemeteries, crypts, and abandoned warehouses of the town they lived in - _is it Sunnydale? You've got to be kidding me_ \- to kill vampires and demons. With frequent breaks for kisses and gay love, so it seemed.

Tara leaned in and gave Willow her undivided attention. As Willow warmed to her story, her flat affect was yielding to a more animated voice and manner.

"Xena and Gabrielle left the cemetery hand in hand and headed downtown.

"'Want to Bronze it tonight, baby? We have about an hour before closing time.'

"Xena considered this. 'I'm game, but aren't you tired after your trip?'

"'A little, but casting those spells has left me a little keyed up. Maybe some dancing would be just the thing.'

"The two walked down Main Street and took a left toward the warehouse district. As they passed a dark alley, Xena suddenly grabbed Gabrielle's arm and dragged her into the shadows.

"'Xena! What the...'

"'Shhhh," whispered Xena. 'We're being followed.'

"Gabrielle nodded and flattened herself against the brick wall. Xena crouched near the corner of the wall behind a trash can, coiled in waiting like a wind-up toy held in check by a child's hand.

"Footsteps neared the corner. Gabrielle's breath sounded too loud in her ears, and she tried to breath through her nose. As the steps were almost upon them, Xena shot out from her hiding place, stake raised.

"'Hey! Cut it out!'

"Xena released her captive's arm in disgust. 'Joxer.'

"Gabrielle came out from her hiding place into the pool of light cast by the street lamp.

"'Oh hi, Gabby,' Joxer said, straightening his clothes. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans with a long black trenchcoat that at first glance looked like leather, but upon closer examination proved to be made of pleather. He had on his vamp-face due to the suddenness of Xena's attack, but quickly smoothed out his features on seeing Gabrielle.

"'Hi Joxer,' Gabrielle said. 'Out for a midnight stroll and you just happened to cross our path?'

"'What? Oh, yeah, um, what a coincidence, huh? Well, as long as we're all together now, let's go fight some evil!'

"Xena crossed her arms and looked at Joxer with an unreadable expression on her face. 'Joxer, just because you have a soul and don't kill humans anymore doesn't mean that we're partners.'"

Angel leaned over to Buffy and whispered "A vampire with a soul? Come on."

Buffy elbowed him. "Willing suspension of disbelief here, _Cupid_."

Tara's thoughts were in turmoil. This story was almost exactly what amazon_hacker had described to her in chat and had said she would be reading at the convention. She tried to calm down and think through things logically.

_Pretend you're Anya. Okay, three possibilities here. First, this could be a complete coincidence. Maybe Willow had the same story idea as Faith. Second, maybe Willow talks to Faith online and stole her story idea. Third, maybe they're co-writing it._

Tara shook her head. Coincidence was possible, but not likely. From what she knew of Willow, she wasn't the type to steal anyone's idea. And from the hostile interaction the two had had at the dance, Tara didn't think they would be likely collaborators on a piece of fiction.

_Okay, that leaves option four. Oh my god._

Tara looked across the room at Faith, who was sitting on the floor near the door. Faith looked back, and her innocent look gradually faded under the weight of Tara's accusatory stare. Finally, Faith shrugged.

Tara's head spun as she put the pieces together.

_Faith isn't amazon_hacker. I don't know how or why, but she tricked me._

_It's Willow._

Tara turned her attention back to Willow, who was finishing up her story. After trying unsuccessfully to get rid of Joxer, the three had proceeded to the Bronze, which was under attack from a gang of vampires. The gang made short work of dusting them all, with an especially drawn-out and violent death scene for uncharacteristically brunette vampire named Callisto.

"Xena and Gabrielle surveyed the room, which was littered with broken chairs, smashed mirrors, and piles of dust. Joxer stood by proudly.

"'We really showed those vamps what for, eh girls?' he asked. 'What do you say we all go out for a nice bottle of pig's blood?'

"Gabrielle made a face. 'A world of no.'

"'Besides, Joxer,' Xena drawled, 'If you're going to be a hero now, killing the vamps is only half the battle. You have to stay and help clean up.' She tossed him a broom. 'Start sweeping.'

"'Oh yeah, cleaning. No problem. I can clean with the best of them. Before I got my soul, I used to have sort of a reputation as a neat freak in the vampire community. I was the only vampire in Sunnydale who disinfected my victims' necks with alcohol swabs before biting them. It's why they called me "Joxer the Tidy." I made up a whole song about it. Here, I'll sing it for you.'

"'Great!' called Gabrielle. 'Sing loud. Xena and I are just going to...clean out the back room. There's a lot of, um, broken glass back there, so don't come in and startle us - someone could get cut.'

"'No problem, Gabby - if there's one thing I am, it's dependable. Okay, here's the song: he's Joxer the Tidy, he's scary and mighty, bacteria fear him, not only from his fangy grin...'

"The sound of the singing faded as Xena closed and latched the door to the back room. 'Come here, you,' she said. Gabrielle happily stepped into her embrace and buried her face into the Slayer's neck.

"'Mmmm,' moaned Xena as Gabrielle nipped the skin lightly. 'You definitely have the magic touch.'

"'But you're the one who's got me under your spell,' Gabrielle replied. Xena chuckled in reply, claiming Gabrielle's lips in a lasting kiss that they only broke when oxygen started to become an issue.

As Willow wound up the end of her story, Tara pondered what to do. She could wait until the fan fiction reading was over and go explain what had happened. Or she could go get Willow right away and pull her out into the hallway, to be sure she wouldn't leave.

As she considered these options, Tara discarded them both. She didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the fan fiction reading. And with her lack of luck catching Willow today, the redhead would slip out of the room if she waited until that night's reading was over, and Tara wouldn't see her again for the rest of the night.

Truth be told, there was something anticlimactic in both of those options, and Tara's sense of pacing and drama from writing her own stories rejected such a mundane method of revealing the mix-up, deception, whatever it was, to Willow. Plus, she had been able to enjoy the excitement of figuring out that Willow was amazon_hacker. If it was within her power, she wanted to give that same experience to Willow.

_Also, didn't I vow this morning to be braver, and to stop hiding behind everything? All right, then. This is my chance._

The people in the room broke into applause as Willow said "The end." With a nod, Willow grinned and walked over to reclaim her seat next to Buffy.

Cordelia, also clapping, stood up and walked to the front of the room. "That was fantastic. A little farfetched, but hey - that's what uber is all about, right? Okay, we don't have anyone else signed up to read yet, so are there any volunteers?"

Tara's heart began to thump in her chest. She nerved herself, and then raised her hand.

Cordelia pointed to Tara. "You there, okay! You're up."

Anya looked at Tara in surprise. "I thought you were blocked?"

"I just figured out how to end it," said Tara as she stood up. She walked to the front of the room, hyperventilating slightly. _Please don't let me stutter too much._

Willow sat back on the couch on Buffy's other side. Reading her story had felt good - she had wanted to simply bow out tonight, but Buffy's and Xander's encouragement throughout the day had convinced her. And now she felt like she had accomplished something, and it buoyed up her mood. Despite having missed wiccanbard today, she felt optimistic - she could send her a private message tomorrow, and work out a different time and place to meet her.

Her eyes focused on Tara at the front of the room. The blonde girl seemed both nervous but confident, tucking her hair behind her ears and clearing her throat as she prepared to read. Well, maybe confident wasn't exactly the right word, Willow reflected - she seemed determined. Resolute. Certain of something.

_Where is a thesaurus when you need one?_

"H-hi, everyone," Tara said. "This story is set, well, sort of online, and also in the real world. The online portions take place on a message board that's a lot like the Warrior Board, called Sands of Time. It's set up for fans of the show Hourglass, a show that hasn't actually been made yet, but has been proposed by Alex Tydings and Claudia Christian. The basic plot of the show is, Aeysha Blackthorne and Chris Michaels are present-day women who want to go to the future, but end up in the past by accident and travel through real moments in history where women are coming into power. My story assumes that the show is actually in production, and that Xena and Gabrielle are fans of the show, and also write fan fiction."

The audience shifted restlessly at this long exposition. Tara noted the mood of the crowd, and decided just to start reading rather than explain further.

"Gabrielle unlocked the door of her apartment and set down her backpack in a rush. Her pottery class had run late due to a malfunction with the kiln, and she had hurried home through rush-hour traffic with just minutes to spare. She pressed the 'on' button on her computer and then poured herself a glass of milk as the machine booted up. As she took her customary seat at the desk, she double-clicked on the Firefox icon.

"The time read 5:01 p.m.

"'Come on, come on,' Gabrielle said as she typed in the URL of the IRC chat room. 'Why are computers so slow when you have an appointment?'

"The chat window opened up, and Gabrielle typed in her login and password for their usual channel, #sands_of_time.

Establishing connection...  
Connecting to client .org  
Success! Joining channel #sands_of_time as Blackthorne

**Blackthorne:** hello?  
**Hacker_Chris:** hey!  
**Blackthorne:** i'm sorry i'm late - traffic  
**Hacker_Chris:** LOL, you're hardly even two minutes late. How was pottery class?  
**Blackthorne:** not bad, except for a little kiln problem  
**Hacker_Chris:** what happened?  
**Blackthorne:** the door wouldn't latch. we eventually found a vampire fang stuck in the hinge.  
**Hacker_Chris:** a real fang? Because OMG.  
**Blackthorne:** haha, of course not. it was that guy joxer again, making one of his crazy comic book character statues  
**Hacker_Chris:** bet he was mad when the fang broke off.  
**Blackthorne:** yeah, but he didn't bite anyone  
**Hacker_Chris:** Huh?  
**Blackthorne:** sorry, just a little vampire joke.  
**Hacker_Chris:** So next week, huh?  
**Blackthorne:** yep. i'm excited. nervous too.  
**Hacker_Chris:** Ditto  
**Blackthorne:** I can't believe that after 8 years, we're going to see each other again.

Willow felt stunned as she listened to Tara's story unfold. She was familiar with the proposed TV series _Hourglass_, as were most Xena fans. The prospect of another woman-centered TV show with two female main characters and lots of subtext was appealing to most of the Xena fan base. The Xena parallels in Tara's story were evident - Blackthorne, the Gabrielle character, was helping to redeem Hacker_Chris from her dark past of writing bad Kirk/Spock Star Trek fan fiction.

But it wasn't the setting or premise of Tara's story that stunned Willow - it was the plotline between Blackthorne and Hacker_Chris. They had apparently been friends when they were younger, but had been separated when Xena's parents had moved the family to Europe when the girls were 13 years old. They had drifted apart and lost contact with each other, but had coincidentally met each other again on the Sands of Time message board three months earlier.

Hacker_Chris had coaxed the shy Blackthorne into a correspondence and eventually a chatting relationship, through which they discovered that they were each others' long-lost friend. And now, after graduating college in Europe, Hacker_Chris was headed back to the U.S. and the two planned to meet again in a park under "their" tree. Both were excited and apprehensive about the meeting since each had carried a torch for the other over the years.

_This is so similar to me and wiccanbard. Well, except for the childhood friends and eight years of separation and tree part. But the online part is almost us to a tee. How does she know all this?_

"Gabrielle sat beneath the tree, lost in thought as the breeze swirled around her. After all this time, would Xena reciprocate her feelings? How real were her feelings, anyway, based as they were in the memory of a teenage friendship, and grown in recent months through an exclusively online relationship? What if Xena wasn't the same person she had been, and her impressions of Xena online were mistaken?

"But there was something inside of her that insisted that her feelings were real, some part of her soul that recognized its twin. No matter if that connection was nurtured in person, verbally, or through the electronic written word, her feelings were real. She knew it. All doubts fled as she accepted this truth, leaving her serene, feeling as if she were floating on the wind, exhilarated, while also feeling as firmly rooted to the earth as the tree against which she leaned.

"Xena approached Gabrielle, who was leaning back against the trunk of the willow tree, hair blowing loosely in a golden nimbus around her head. She clutched the gift she had selected, a small hourglass, firmly in a sweaty hand. Her heart thumped a steady rhythm in her chest. As she neared Gabrielle, she noticed an identical hourglass by the blonde's side with a bow on top.

"Gabrielle heard Xena's footsteps and looked up, green eyes meeting her own blue ones with a shock of recognition, familiarity, and...love?

"'Hi.'

"'Hi.'"

_A willow tree?_

Tara looked up from her papers and shifted. "That's actually all I have so far - I'm planning to continue this story on the Warrior board." She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "So look for an update from wiccanbard - that's me." She looked at Willow as she said it.

Willow sat perfectly still as the room broke into another round of applause. She gazed back at Tara, who returned the look with a half-smile before breaking eye contact and making her way back to her seat.

_What?_

As comprehension dawned, Willow looked accusingly over at Faith. Faith returned her look with a shrug, and rolled her eyes.

Cordelia walked back to the front of the room. "Thank you, wiccanbard, for that. That message board, Sands of Time, sounds oddly familiar." She laughed. "Does anyone else want to read? We have another hour."

Nobody raised their hand. The crowd was smaller tonight, many people having chosen not to stay for Sunday night and having left.

Cordelia said "Okay, then - everyone, enjoy your evenings!"

People began getting up, gathering belongings, and started to empty out of the room. Willow, however, sat on the couch, still overwhelmed by the revelation. A shadow fell across her as a figure approached, and she looked up.

It was Tara, standing before her with that same combination of nervousness and certainty, looking at the floor, and then at Willow's face with a tentative, yet warm smile.

"Hi."

"Hi."


	13. Just Desserts

Willow stared at Tara, her mind still putting all the pieces into place as she processed this new information. The seconds ticked by, and Willow gradually realized that she was staring, while Tara continued to smile at her tentatively.

_Say something!_

"Hi."

_Something else!_

"Um, hi, again. I mean..." Willow trailed off as she stood up from the couch.

Tara smiled. "I guess we haven't talked face to face very much, but based on our chats I'd say that this is a pretty rare occurrence."

Willow's mind whirled. "Finding out that the girl I hoped would be the girl I like is actually the girl I like instead of being the girlfriend of someone who was apparently lying to both of us is a rare occurrence?"

Tara frowned in concentration as she worked that out. "Well, I'd guess that's a rare occurrence too. But I meant your being speechless."

Willow smiled. "Oh, you're right. It is pretty rare - but it already seems to have passed. Um, hi. Wait, I've already said that three times. Four, now, so you probably feel properly greeted. I'm Willow, which you already know because we've met, and you're Tara - wiccanbard. I'm amazon_hacker, which I guess you already know - but how did you know that?"

Instead of answering her question, Tara smiled. "You're pretty much exactly like I imagined you would be."

Willow absorbed these words, and her eyes softened as her gaze roamed over Tara's face, stopping when her eyes locked with Tara's and she found answering tenderness there.

"Um, what?" she finally said, as a blush crept up her neck and settled in her cheeks.

Willow was both saved from and subjected to further embarrassment as Anya and Xander, who had been furtively whispering with Buffy and Angel across the room, chose that moment to join the girls.

"So, Tara, it looks like the redhead you've had your eye on all weekend is your internet paramour after all!" Anya chortled, much to Tara's chagrin.

"I'd introduce you, but I know you two have already met," Tara said, trying to ignore Anya's statement.

Anya was having none of it. "Didn't I tell you that there was no way that Faith girl was amazon_hacker? Thank god you didn't do it with her."

Tara bristled at the mention of Faith - as did Willow, once she turned her attention from Anya's comment about Tara not "doing it" with Faith - _did they get that far?_

"Where is she, anyway?" Willow asked. "I want to give her a piece of my mind."

Xander held up a restraining hand. "You just leave that to us."

"What do you mean?"

Anya jumped in. "What Xander means to say is, he, Buffy, and I just had a _tete a tete_, and we decided that you girls have had a rough time this weekend, what with the mistaken identity and all. We feel compelled to make sure that someone takes vengeance on Faith, but you two shouldn't have to worry about that."

"Where is Buffy?" Willow asked. "I want to introduce Tara to her."

Xander looked furtively across the room. "She's over there, but don't talk to her right now, or you'll blow her cover. She can meet Tara later."

Willow gave him a confused look, but acquiesced and turned her attention back to Anya, who was continuing.

"Anyway, so we decided that you two need some time to get to know each other after all the hijinks, so we're making a few changes in the room assignments for tonight. You two will stay in our room, I'm going to stay with Xander, and Buffy," Anya lowered her voice as she said the name, "is going to stay in Angel's room tonight."

Tara blushed to the roots of her hair. "That's, um, really thoughtful of you guys and all, but, um, don't you think that we should at least ask Willow..."

"Sounds great!" Willow interjected, fearing that Tara was going to decline the offer outright.

Tara shot a shy smile at Willow. "You mean?"

"I mean."

"And you don't even have to have sex," Anya said.

"Anya!"

"Not that any of us would judge you if you did, glass houses and all. But that reminds me, Tara, if you do, then you could wear..."

"ANYA! Thank you," Tara interrupted. "I think we're good."

Xander smothered a smile with his hand as Willow grinned.

"So you two just run along!" Anya finished.

"Thank you, guys," Willow said, giving first Xander and then Anya a hug, followed by Tara.

"I'll just go get my things," Tara said. Willow nodded and went to gather up her own papers and bag.

A hint of mirth played around the corners of Anya's lips.

"Do you think that broke the ice enough for them?" she asked Xander.

"I think the ice was pulverized," he replied.

She grinned. "Speaking of pulverizing things, I'm going to go have a word with Faith. Be right back."

Anya crossed the room to where Faith was lounging near the door, casually ogling some of the girls. She crossed her arms as she reached the brunette, stopping when she was just inside the girl's personal space and impossible to ignore.

Faith looked up.

"Yeah?"

"My name is Anya, and I'm Tara's best friend. No, don't even say anything," Anya held up her hand as Faith began to speak. "This won't take long.

"I just came over here to tell you that what you did was probably the lowest, meanest, most low-down thing I've ever heard of. And I don't even care why you did it, so don't bother trying to explain. Just look at them." Anya gestured toward Willow and Tara, who were shyly holding hands as they bid Xander another goodnight.

"It's almost like they were meant for each other. And you can tell from just looking that they really like each other. Look at how excited they are.

"You got in the way of that. What kind of person are you that you had to pretend to be someone else? What's missing from your life that you had to horn in on somebody else's?"

Anya's eyes bored into Faith's as she saw her point sink in. The dark girl seemed about to say something, but decided against it.

"They're going to walk out of this room soon, and you'd better not still be here when they do. I think they've had enough of you this weekend. _Capisce_?"

Without a word, Faith stood up, holding her leather jacket over her shoulder. She sneered at Anya, then turned and left the Sunset Lounge.

"Good riddance," Anya said as she turned to rejoin Xander.

"What were you talking to Faith about?" Willow inquired.

"Oh, just convincing her she'd rather not be where she was right now," Anya said with a wave of her hand.

Tara smiled gratefully at her roommate and gave her a final hug.

"Thanks," she whispered in Anya's ear. "Are you going to want to pick up your toothbrush or anything?"

"No," Anya whispered back. "I don't mind using Xander's. And don't forget that blue underwear!"

Tara laughed as she released her friend.

"Okay, goodnight you two," Anya said. "Shoo!"

Willow gave Tara a sidelong glance as they began to walk away. "So you've had your eye on me all weekend?"

Xander looked fondly at the couple as they left the room.

"So is Operation Con the Conner underway?" he asked.

"Should be," Anya replied.

* * *

Faith strode off down the hallway, fuming. Who was that blonde stick to tell her anything about who she was? She had half a mind to turn around and let her have it. She was on the verge of going back when she walked by a darkened side hallway that led to the meeting rooms. It was empty and deserted at this time of night - except for a blonde girl leaning back against the wall with her shirt open one button lower than good taste would dictate.

She was giving Faith a smoky look.

"What are you looking at?" Faith snapped.

The girl's eyes roamed over Faith's body, lingering on the curve of her hips and breasts before coming to rest on her face.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Faith retorted, her tone softening somewhat. Maybe tonight didn't have to be a total bust.

The blonde pushed off from the wall and sauntered over to Faith. Again, she gave Faith a thorough up-and-down look.

"Maybe something."

Faith grinned. "Like what you see?"

The girl considered this question carefully before answering.

"Hard to say."

"Why's that?"

A pink tongue emerged from the blonde's lips and wetted them before she replied.

"Too many clothes."

Faith felt her annoyance at Anya fade away as it was replaced with bravado and a resurgence of her confidence.

"Maybe we should do something about that," the blonde girl said.

"Maybe we should," Faith replied. She reached for the girl's waist, but the girl took a step back.

"Uh-uh," she said. "Don't get grabby." She reached into her pocket and produced a key card, which she handed to Faith.

Faith looked at the piece of plastic. "This come with a room number?"

The blonde smiled a sultry smile. "429," she said. "Why don't you join me in, say, 20 minutes after I've had a chance to freshen up and slip into something a little more...comfortable."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "All right. Maybe I'll pick up some party favors."

The blonde nodded. "Sounds nice. Don't be late."

"What's your name?" Faith called to the retreating figure.

Buffy turned around. "It's Anne," she said.

"Get ready for me to rock your world, Anne," Faith replied.

* * *

"So she tried to undo the tie on my shirt, and that was really just it for me. I told her off, and left the dance. So no, there was definitely no 'doing it.'"

"I should have known something was up when she was so rude to me when you and I were talking. Or hello! I should have known when she told me that the real wiccanbard was wearing a pink fuzzy sweater with an orange and purple plaid skirt."

"You believed that somebody would actually wear that? I mean, if they weren't colorblind?"

Willow grinned. "Well, I wanted to reserve judgment. The clothes don't matter as much as the person who's inside them."

Tara laughed. "But that color combination! My head hurts just thinking about it." She shook her head as she unlocked the door of her hotel room, and the door swung inward. She flipped on the light switch and entered. Willow followed, clutching the small bag that held her toiletries and pajamas.

The door swung closed behind them with a clunk and a snick as the latch engaged.

Tara cleared her throat as she gathered up some of the clothes that were lying on the bed and put them on top of her suitcase. She felt unaccountably shy now that she and Willow were alone, though they had talked easily - mostly about Faith's methods of deceiving them both - while they had picked up Willow's things from her room.

"Your room smells better than ours," Willow commented. "Ours had that musty hotel-room smell."

"I brought a candle," Tara said. "I usually bring one when I go to h-hotels."

Willow crossed the room to where the candle sat on the table and leaned over.

"Mmmmm," she said. "It smells nice."

Tara gazed at Willow as the girl looked around the room, taking in the marvel of the redhead actually being here, in her room, after the events of the weekend. She started suddenly out of her reverie.

"Oh!" she said. "Let me take your bag."

Willow handed her bag to Tara, who set it on the bed.

_I put it on my bed. Willow doesn't know that it's my bed, though. Will she want to sleep in the bed with me? Do I want her to? How do I find out?_ Tara's forehead creased in worry.

Willow noticed her distress, and although she didn't fathom the exact cause, she was perceptive enough to figure out the general source.

"Hey," she said. Tara's eyes found hers, and her forehead smoothed.

"This is kind of unfamiliar territory for both of us, I think," Willow continued. "And with everything that happened this weekend we're probably both feeling a little off-balancey. Right?"

Tara nodded.

"Our friends were sweet to arrange things so we can stay together tonight, but I'm guessing that neither of us is really in the habit of, um, spending the night with people we've only just sort of met. So maybe it's best to start off just by saying that I don't have any expectations."

"Me either," Tara replied. She nerved herself and added softly, "I do have hopes, though."

Willow's eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face at these words.

"Me too."

Tara felt a thrill steal through her body as she watched Willow's bright smile.

_I'd like to spend the rest of my life making her smile like that._

She felt transfixed as she ran her gaze over the contours of Willow's lips, and her own eyes sought Willow's green ones. She saw affection and tenderness there, as well as a bit of her own nervousness reflected at her. So fixed was her attention that she was unconscious was the movement of her feet, and she found herself approaching Willow.

Heart hammering in her chest, she reached for Willow's hands. The girl's hands were smooth and warm in her own cooler ones. Willing the slight tremor of her nervousness to subside, she held Willow's hands and regarded their entwined fingers.

"Gonna tell my fortune?" Willow asked, a little shakily.

Tara smiled a half-smile, and grasped Willow's right hand, turning it gently so the palm faced up. She traced the lines on the redhead's palm with her index finger, caressing the topmost line from under the little finger to where it petered out under the middle finger.

"Well, this is the head line, which has to do with intelligence and according to your palm, you're, um..."

"What?" Willow asked, curious at Tara's hesitation.

"Not very bright," she finished. She flashed Willow a grin. "I'm not an expert at reading palms, though."

Willow grinned. "What do the other lines mean?"

Tara traced the path of another line that cut a diagonal swath through Willow's palm. "This is your life line, and it says...oh dear..."

"What?"

Tara looked up at Willow in mock sadness. "It's a wonder you're still alive," she said.

"I'll schedule an appointment with my doctor when I get home," Willow said.

"Yes, that would probably be a very good idea," Tara said. She cupped Willow's hand in her left hand, trailing her fingertips back and forth across Willow's wrist. "I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

Willow shivered as Tara's fingers strayed further up her arm for a moment, and then returned back to her palm.

"Now this is your heart line, and it tells you about your love life," Tara said, running her fingertip along the crease that began underneath the knuckle of Willow's index finger.

"What does it say?"

Tara gazed at the line, and cleared her throat. "Um, it says that you're going to be pretty unlucky in love, actually."

Willow's eyebrows rose in disbelief.

"I've never seen a love line that short," Tara said apologetically.

"So according to my hands, I'm a dumb, lonely person who's going to die young?"

Tara bit her lip through a smile. "If you believe in that sort of thing."

Willow raised her hand to Tara's face, cupping her cheek in her hand and softly running her thumb over her cheekbone. Tara inhaled sharply as Willow's hand made contact with her face, closed her eyes, and leaned into the touch.

"Do you believe in palmistry?" Willow asked softly.

Tara opened her eyes halfway.

"No," she replied. Willow's hand stilled its motion as Tara opened her eyes fully.

Tara raised her hands to Willow's face and cupped the redhead's cheeks in an answering caress.

"I think that you're a smart person who is going to live a long life," she said.

Willow felt her eyes wanting to close as Tara ran her fingers along her cheekbones, around her ears, and traced a path down her neck, and back up to her face.

"And what about love?" she asked.

"At the risk of sounding, um, like I have an overly high opinion of myself," Tara began, "I think you're going to be very lucky in love."

Tara dropped her hands from Willow's face and took a breath. She gazed deeply into Willow's expressive eyes, which seemed to simultaneously hold amusement, trust, and desire. She moved closer to Willow's face, inexorably, until the barest millimeters separated their lips. She closed her eyes, as did Willow. And then, with the lightest feather-brushing of lips, they kissed.

Willow felt a thrill steal through her body as their lips met. A tiny part of her couldn't believe this was happening, while the rest of her brain was uncharacteristically silent as it focused solely on the electrifying touch of Tara's lips on her own.

The kiss was gentle and tentative at first. Then, almost as one, both girls began to deepen the kiss, adjusting their lips to each others' so Willow's bottom lip fit snugly in between Tara's.

Willow's hands stole around Tara's waist, and she felt an answering embrace from the blonde.

They broke the kiss, both breathing more heavily than before. Neither girl moved to break their embrace, however. Tara leaned forward and rested her forehead against Willow's.

"Wow," she said.

"I definitely echo that sentiment," Willow said.

"I didn't plan that," Tara said.

"So the seductive palm reading was really an attempt to tell me my fortune, and not a ruse?" Willow teased gently.

Tara smiled. "Well, it wasn't an attempt to tell your fortune. It was a nice excuse to hold your hand."

Willow closed her eyes. "I liked that."

"Me too."

Willow opened her eyes. "I feel so conflicted."

"How?"

"Well, on the one hand all I really want to do right now is kiss you again, and feel these amazing feelings. But on the other hand, I want to stay up late and talk all night and get to know you, because we haven't had much time this weekend, what with all the mistaken identities and all."

"I know how you feel," Tara responded. "Especially because tomorrow..." she trailed off as a thought struck her.

Willow pulled back and looked at her. "Tomorrow?"

"I just remembered a question I wanted to ask you. Your story about the vampires - which was great, by the way - why did you set it in Sunnydale?"

Willow quirked an eyebrow. "Well, because I live there."

Tara's eyebrows shot up. "You live in Sunnydale?"

"Yes," Willow said. "How come? Oh my gosh, do you live there too?"

"No," Tara responded. Willow's face fell. "Near there!" she quickly amended. "About 20 minutes away."

Willow's eyes widened. "Wow." She seemed speechless, and stared at Tara.

Tara threw her arms around Willow in a fierce hug.

Willow returned the hug with equal fervor. "I don't feel conflicted anymore."

Tara didn't let her go. "How come?"

Willow brushed Tara's cheek with hers. "I was feeling conflicted because I thought tomorrow that we were probably going to drive home away from each other, and be far apart and have to have a long-distance relat- um, correspondence, and now I know that we're going to be able to spend time together and get to know each other, and well, that's great."

Tara grinned into Willow's neck.

"So you were conflicted before about kissing all night, or talking all night. Which one do you want to do?" she asked casually.

Willow pulled back and gazed into Tara's eyes before replying "Definitely more kisses."

Tara covered Willow's lips with her own with a passion that belied her casual tone.

* * *

Faith strutted down the hall to room 429, clutching a bottle of wine by the neck in one hand. As she arrived, she whistled appreciatively.

"Corner room. Nice."

She reached into her pocket for the piece of plastic Anne had given her. She inserted and removed it from the door lock with a flourish, and grinned wickedly as the green light came on. She pushed the door open.

The room was dark, lit dimly only by a table lamp that cast a weak pool of light onto the table. The sole object on the table was an ice bucket.

Faith advanced into the room, looking around in the dim light. The room was empty.

"Huh. Maybe she went to get some party favors too," Faith muttered.

She reached for the light switch, liking the mood lighting but not wanting to wait for Anne in the dark. As she snapped on the overhead light, the room was lit up brightly.

It appeared to be empty - there were no signs of anyone staying in the room. The beds were snugly made, and there was no suitcase in sight, not any visible signs of an occupant. No books, toiletries, glasses of water were visible. Even the remote control was neatly positioned on top of the television.

Faith frowned. Something didn't seem right. As she looked more carefully around the room, she noticed some details she had missed in the dark. The ice bucket was filled to the brim with ice, and a piece of paper was taped to it.

With a flick of her wrist she snapped the paper off the ice bucket and read it.

_Dear Faith,_ Guess what? You've been conned. Doesn't feel too good, does it? I don't want you to leave empty-handed, though. Here's some ice - I think you probably need to cool off. _-"Anne"_

Faith growled in frustration and crumpled up the note. She flipped the plastic key card across the room.

She reached for the ice bucket, intending to upend its contents all over the room - she didn't know if "Anne" would be back or if the room was truly unoccupied, but she wanted seek some release for the frustration she was feeling.

As she gripped the handle on the ice bucket, though, she stilled her hand. Anya's words echoed in her mind.

_What kind of person are you that you need to pretend to be someone else? What's missing from your life that you had to horn in on somebody else's?_

Faith shook her head, trying to forget the words, but they persisted, replaying themselves over and over again in her head.

"Losers," she said. The words rang hollow in her ears. She stalked out of the room, Anya's words stubbornly accompanying her no matter how fast she walked down the hallway.


	14. End of the Beginning

Tara woke up, disoriented. It was pitch black, and she was in bed - half of her body warm and snuggly, and half cold. She was only partially covered by sheets and a blanket that seemed to have mysteriously moved during the night. The air conditioning in the room had kicked on, and the cold air blowing across the exposed portion of her back where her T-shirt had ridden up from her boxer shorts had awakened her.

While her back was cold, the front side of her body was most decidedly warm, and firmly wrapped around another warm body. A body, she sleepily realized, that had stolen most of the covers during the night.

It all came rushing back to her - Willow, kissing Willow after the mock attempt to read her palm, lost in each other and the rush of taste, texture, lips and tongues on each other, hands gently stroking each other's backs, for what seemed like an endless time. Shy looks at each other as first one girl and then the other changed into pajamas in the privacy of the bathroom, and the initial awkwardness of lying in bed together in the dark, stiff and not touching, which so easily gave way to more kissing and snuggling until nearly midnight, and being so overcome by fatigue that by unspoken agreement they settled into each others' arms and drifted off to sleep.

Tara shifted on the bed, trying to gently tug some of the blankets and sheets over to her side, but Willow had the blankets firmly in her grasp and tucked under her body. Tara shivered and pressed herself against Willow.

_Guess she steals the covers._ As she considered her options, the point was suddenly rendered moot by Willow's awakening.

"Mmm, what's going on?" she said sleepily as she rolled over to face Tara.

Tara took the opportunity to yank some of the bedclothes onto herself. "You stole the covers."

Willow hoisted herself up onto one elbow and shifted her weight to allow Tara more of the blankets.

"I'm so sorry," she said, running her hand along Tara's back. "You're so cold!"

Tara tucked the sheets under her chin. "Come warm me up?"

Willow gladly obliged and settled her head onto Tara's shoulder, wrapped her arm around the other girl's midsection, and for good measure, curled her left leg over Tara's thighs.

"Better now?" she asked.

"Much," Tara replied, caressing Willow's hair. Willow sighed with pleasure at the touch and burrowed her face into the crook of Tara's shoulder. As Tara continued her caress, Willow reciprocated with gentle kisses along her neck. Tara squirmed with pleasure.

"Cover theft is a serious issue," Tara said with mock severity. "We're going to have to work on that."

Willow chuckled. "It's been a lifelong problem. But I'll promise to work hard at my rehabilitation."

"Lifelong, you say? You have a track record of stealing covers, meaning you've slept with a lot of people?" Though Tara's tone was teasing, Willow caught an undercurrent of uncertainty, and moved quickly to allay her fears.

"Only through sleepovers with Buffy," she clarified, reaching up to stroke Tara's hair along the temple. "Chaste sleepovers. I, um, haven't dated very many people. And none to the point where we shared a bed."

Tara hugged Willow to her. "You'd never know it, the way you kiss."

Willow perked up. "Am I a good kisser?"

"The best I've ever had."

"And how many have you had?"

Tara smiled into the dark. "Um, let me count." She whispered under her breath, "One, two, three, hm, do those twins count as one or two? Uh..."

Willow's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "What?"

Tara giggled softly. "Just teasing you. Not very many - a couple of awkward dates here and there."

Willow settled back down into Tara's arms. "Pretty much the same for me. If you don't count Xander when we were eight years old and playing Post Office, which I don't."

"Hm. Let's not - because that would mean by extension that you've kissed Anya, and we live together."

"Yeah, probably best to avoid that train of thought."

"What is Post Office?" Tara asked. "I've never played it."

Willow blushed. "Well, the way we played it was that instead of mailing letters, you mailed kisses. One person was the postal clerk, and the other one was the customer. It was pretty innocent, actually - it was Xander's idea. We only played it once or twice before he decided girls were icky."

Tara turned her head and planted a soft kiss on Willow's lips.

"Like that?"

"Mmmmmm. Yeah, like that." Willow sighed happily, and then returned the kiss.

"What was that?"

"Return to sender - not enough postage."

Tara quirked up the left side of her mouth. Every time she thought Willow couldn't possibly be more endearing, she did or said something that was even more delightful. She turned over slightly, gently shifting Willow in her arms so Willow lay on her back, and proceeded to kiss her again. This time she prolonged the contact, and parted her lips slightly so just the tip of her tongue touched Willow's bottom lip.

She lay back down. "Enough postage that time?"

Willow turned over and wordlessly returned the kiss, tentatively extending her own tongue to brush against Tara's lips. She was met with the gentlest pressure of Tara's tongue, and the kiss deepened.

Tara exhaled with a trembly voice when the kiss was over. "Guess not."

"No, plenty of postage - this time it was 'address unknown.'"

"I really need to mail this letter. To France." Tara said.

"Well, the post office is here to help," Willow replied. "We have a variety of resources for our customers. There's a zip code reference book," she said, kissing the tip of Tara's nose, "a street map," she continued, with a touch of lips to Tara's forehead, "and of course, the postal clerk is a friendly woman who can help you search the database," she finished, with the briefest touch of lips on Tara's left ear.

Tara shuddered. "Thank goodness for the U.S. Government."

Willow nodded, trailing kisses down Tara's jaw. "Through rain, or sleet, or snow, or a plague of frogs, we'll be here for you."

"I think it's a plague of locusts," Tara said, shivering as Willow nipped her jaw.

"Locusts I can handle, or vampire bats, for that matter," Willow said, resuming her kissing down to the tip of Tara's chin. "It's the frogs that are the scariest."

She ended up at Tara's lips and captured them again in a kiss. Tara's arms went around her neck and the two girls abandoned their banter as they again became absorbed in each other.

* * *

_Riiiiiiiiiiing!_

Willow shifted in annoyance at the insistent sound. "Mmmmph," she protested.

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!_

Tara opened her eyes sleepily and cast around for the source of the sound, the hotel phone.

"Hello?"

"Tara, it's 10:30! Check-out time is 11. I need to shower, and I'm assuming Willow probably does too," Anya's voice crackled through the phone.

Tara sank back onto the pillow, too tired to respond to Anya's comment. "Willow's asleep - I think she'll be hard to wake up."

"Well, motivate her. I'll be there in five minutes." Anya hung up the phone.

She replaced the phone in its cradle and gently shook the redhead who was cradled in her arms. "Willow, sweetie, it's time to get up."

Willow murmured a protest. "Do we have to?"

Tara kissed her forehead. "Anya will be here in four minutes, and I'm sure she'll have a lot of commentary for us if we're still in bed together."

Willow opened her eyes and threw back the covers. She leapt out of the bed like a stone launched from a slingshot. "I'll just be a second!" she said as she carried her clothes from last night into the bathroom.

Tara smiled and got out of the bed herself. She opened her suitcase and selected an outfit to wear for the ride home.

Willow emerged from the restroom, scrubbing at her eyes. "I can't believe how late we slept."

Tara gave Willow a sly smile. "Well, as I recall, we did wake up in the middle of the night, so we didn't sleep the whole time."

Willow's eyes sparkled and she walked over to give Tara a hug.

As she embraced the girl, she glanced into her suitcase. "What's that, Tara?"

Tara looked where Willow was pointing. "Oh, um, nothing. Just something Anya bought for me." She closed the suitcase hurriedly.

"Anya bought you sexy underwear?" Willow queried.

Tara blushed. "Yes. She, uh, made me promise to bring it."

"Oh? How come?"

"In case things worked out with you, sweetie!" Anya trilled as she let herself into the room. "I take it that you didn't wear it, Tara."

Willow decided to forestall further embarrassment for Tara. "Well, I'll look forward to seeing it sometime in the future," she said, with a quick peck on Tara's cheek. "Anya, see you downstairs at checkout?" She beat a hasty retreat to the door.

"Dibs on the shower!" Tara called, avoiding Anya's anticipated remonstrations about the underwear.

* * *

Buffy and Willow sat in the lobby as Xander checked out of their room at the front desk.

"So how was your night, Buff?" Willow asked.

"It was good!" Buffy answered. "I really like Angel. He's very sweet, and was very much the gentleman last night. I was worried since he's older, but there was no pressure at all."

"Are you going to see him again?"

Buffy nodded, a dreamy look overtaking her features. "He lives in L.A., so it's a drive, but not too far away." She looked up and saw Tara and Anya entering the lobby carrying their bags. She nudged Willow.

Willow followed Buffy's gaze and a smile lit up her face as she saw Tara. Slightly flushed from her shower and with damp hair, Tara seemed even more adorable than she had this morning. Tara walked across the room toward Buffy and Willow as Anya joined Xander at the checkout counter.

Willow stood to make introductions. "Buffy, this is Tara. Tara, Buffy."

Buffy extended a hand to Tara. "It's very nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

Tara smiled as she shook Buffy's hand. "Likewise. This morning you heard a lot about me?"

"This morning, the last three months, you name it. It's pretty much been a constant topic for Willow," Buffy joked. "I'm glad you guys finally met after all the craziness."

"What did you guys do to Faith, anyway?" Tara asked.

"Let's just say for now that we turned the tables on Faith. Gave her a taste of her own medicine. Revenge is a dish best served cold."

Willow groaned. "No more cliches, Buffy."

"Okay, I won't beat a dead horse," Buffy said good-naturedly, as Xander and Anya joined them.

"Finished checking out?" Willow asked. They nodded.

"We'd better hit the road," Xander said. "I have to work tonight."

"I'll get the car," Buffy said.

"Oh, I'll go with you!" Anya said. She slipped her arm through Buffy's as they walked through the door. "Now tell me all about what you did to Faith..." her voice trailed off as they moved away.

Xander gathered up as many bags as he could carry. "I'll take these outside."

Willow and Tara picked up the remainder of the bags and carried them to the curb, where Xander was depositing the heavy load.

"So pretty sweet that you and Anya live so near Sunnydale," Xander said to Tara.

Tara nodded. "It'll make keeping in touch a lot easier."

Xander nodded. "Although with e-mail these days, even if you're hours away it can seem like less. Makes visiting harder, though."

"True, but I kind of prefer the U.S. Postal Service," Willow said.

Xander gave her a look. "YOU prefer the postal service? Miss Electronic Information Age Paperless Economy herself?"

Willow shrugged innocently. "It has its good points."

Xander seemed to want to press the point, but at that moment Anya's car pulled up in front of the group, followed by Buffy's mom's SUV, which screeched to a halt mere inches from Anya's bumper.

"Sorry!" Buffy called out of the window as she popped the back door.

As Xander began to load the bags into their respective cars, Willow and Tara looked at each other and embraced.

"So I'll call you?" Willow said. "Ugh, that sounds like a line. I don't mean it that way."

"You won't call me," Tara said.

"What?" Lines of worry appeared on Willow's forehead.

"You don't have my phone number," Tara said with an impish grin.

Willow smiled. "You are such a teaser!"

"Better than being a tease, I guess."

"Okay, time to give it up," Willow said, producing her cell phone from a pocket and making ready to enter Tara's phone number.

Tara told Willow her number, both home and cell at the redhead's insistence. Willow took a quick look around, noticed that Buffy, Xander, and Anya were all studiously not looking at them, and gave Tara a quick kiss.

"Okay. I'll call you soon. Um, probably tonight, if that's okay."

Tara nodded, and with lingering glances, the girls went to their friends' cars.

Willow pulled the door closed and buckled her seat belt. "Thanks for waiting."

"Anything for lesbian love," Xander said. "You take your time, anytime."

"What he said, only with less prurient interest," Buffy said.

Anya gunned the engine as Tara got in and closed the door. "All right, we're out of here." She drove out of the parking lot at high speeds.

"Why are you so anxious to get away from them?" Tara asked, confused. "Did something happen between you and Xander?"

Anya chortled. "No, not at all. I just don't want to be anywhere near Buffy on the highway. That girl drives like a maniac."

* * *

**New Thread: UberCon 2005 Wrap-Up**

**cordy_princess (Moderator):** this is a new thread for post-UberCon discussion! I hope everyone had a great time. I wanted to thank everyone from the Warrior Board who attended the con and our fanfic readings at night - we got to hear some really great stories, so thanks for sharing your talent.

Just a reminder that next year at UberCon '06, all fics that you read need to be uber. I let it slide this time, but no canon fics next year! Hear me, aphrodite and joxx?

**xenarulz: ** I think they're both still too wrapped up in each other to have logged on to the board yet.

**aresisagod: ** LOL

**aphrodite: ** I choose not to respond to your teasing, xenarulz. Notice that I am not making any cheeky comments about a certain hotel manager who lives in Los Angeles and the danger in which you'll put thousands of unsuspecting commuters during your frequent road trips to visit him, not to mention wear and tear on your mother's car's tires. No, I rise above that level of discourse.

**xenarulz: ** touche', goddess of love (and vengeance!)

**aphrodite: ** two sides of the same coin, love and vengeance. You know the old saying about hell's fury and a woman scorned?

**cordy_princess (Moderator): ** ahem, people. Topic.

**xenarulz: ** oh, it's topical, cordy, just obscure. But I take your point. Just wanted to compliment the organizers on a job well done. I went along with my friends to UberCon because they asked; otherwise I wouldn't have gone, but I ended up having a WONDERFUL time.

**broody_cupid: ** not to mention you met a hunky guy

**xenarulz: ** and a modest one at that!

**callibabe: ** I had a wonderful time at UberCon, despite certain rude elements that I ran into at the dance on Saturday. However, life is too short to hold a grudge. Bygones.

**joxx: ** UberCon's courage will change the world!

**amazon_hacker: ** I think I can honestly say that UberCon didn't go at all like I was expecting, but it turned out better than I could ever have dreamed.

**wiccanbard: ** I second that!

**aphrodite: ** oh, look who's come up for air!

**wiccanbard: ** shuddup an. *blush*

**aphrodite: ** every time lesbians kiss, an angel gets her wings. There's a whole heck of a lot more winged angels in our area this weekend.

**joxx: ** w00t

**cordy_princess (Moderator): ** people! Topic!

* * *

Connecting to client .org

Joining channel #quill as wiccanbard

**amazon_hacker**: hey, you're here!

**wiccanbard**: I just got your PM that you sent at the con on saturday. if only i had checked the board this weekend, it would have saved us a lot of grief

**amazon_hacker**: yeah, but I kind of like the way things ended up

**wiccanbard**: me too

**amazon_hacker**: I was just about to call you but I thought I'd check our chat room for old time's sake

**wiccanbard**: me too, obviously! :) so...

**amazon_hacker**: yes?

**wiccanbard**: if this were a fan fiction, you know what the perfect ending would be?

**amazon_hacker**: for us to immediately declare our undying love and get married and magically have lots of babies that we conceive together through some otherworldy intervention?

**wiccanbard**: well, yes. but before we do that, would you like to have dinner tonight? with me? on a date?

**amazon_hacker**: would I? In a word - YES.

**wiccanbard**: I'll be right over.

**amazon_hacker** Tara?

**wiccanbard**: yes?

**amazon_hacker**: I can't wait.

**wiccanbard**: me too.

* * *

**wiccanbard  
**Blessed Be  
Joined: 16 September 2003  
Posts: 398  
Location: A magic circle  
**Post subject:** Re: Love's Redemption (Complete)

Hey everyone - thank you so much for your comments and for reading this story. This is the final chapter.

**Title:** Love's Redemption  
**Part: ** 14  
**Author: ** wiccanbard  
**Feedback: ** yes!  
**Rating: ** PG-13  
**Disclaimer: ** Rob Tapert owns these characters, I'm just borrowing them.

Gabrielle sighed contentedly as she snuggled down into Xena's arms underneath the blankets and furs. No matter how many nights they had together, going to bed with Xena never was boring. She smiled at the unintended double entendre, and giggled into Xena's shoulder.

"What is it?" Xena asked drowsily as she stroked Gabrielle's hair.

"Oh, just a little word play," Gabrielle replied as she leaned into the touch.

"That's what I love about you, Gabrielle."

"What?"

Xena's voice grew husky with emotion. "Your inner light, the joy you bring to life. You helped me back from the abyss, and for that I will be forever grateful to you." Gabrielle's grip on Xena tightened at these words.

"But it's more than that. There's still darkness in me, I can feel it. But I don't feel it as strongly when I'm with you. And I don't feel it at all when you laugh."

Gabrielle was overcome with emotion, and tears sprang into her eyes. She buried her face in Xena's neck. Finally she spoke with a trembling voice.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, Xena."

"How come, my little bard?"

"I've been thinking about the rest of our lives, and...well...I want to spend the rest of mine with you." Gabrielle blushed slightly at the admission - though she and Xena had formed an intimate relationship, they hadn't actually discussed the future.

Xena was still. "You do?"

"Yes, I do. If you'll have me."

Xena's voice, husky already, threatened to break. "There's nothing in this world I want more, my bard." She captured Gabrielle's lips with her own in a lingering kiss.

As she settled back into the crook of Xena's arms, Gabrielle thought her heart would burst with happiness. Xena was drifting off toward sleep, but Gabrielle asked one more question.

"Xena?"

"Hm?"

"When do you think we should have our first child?"

"Go to sleep, Gabrielle."

"Right away? Or a couple of years from now so we have the freedom to travel?"

"Sleep, Gabrielle."

"Okay, it's settled. We'll wait."

THE END

* * *

THE END


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